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Loss in splitters

Paul,

Can you give me more details on how you got the ground rod connected to the antenna? And how did you drive the rod into the ground? How long is the rod? I assume a jack hammer of some kind was used?

And in your previous post you mentioned the possibility of just hooking up a cable connection for use as an antenna. I tried this and was holding the cable wire in my right hand while unscrewing the antenna from the receiver and got a light shock/buzz in my right hand. Scared the crap out of me! Was I doing something wrong?

Man, trying to get good FM reception is driving me both nuts and almost killing me!
 
Here's a tip on getting a 6-8 foot ground rod into the ground.
You'll need a 5 gallon bucket of water and a volunteer.
This works best in non-rocky soil-not too good in rocky soil.
Dig a hole about the size of your fist where you want the ground rod to go-then have your friend pour in a little water. Push the rod into the ground, while your helper pours water in as you go.
It works so good, it looks like a magic trick.
 
Good quality splitters are often labeled with their insertion losses.

Even 2-way splitters are 3.5 db to either side. (As others have said, it would be 3db with no losses)

An even 3-way splitter I am looking at is marked 6db loss to each output

An uneven 3-way splitter I am using is marked 3.7db to one output and 7.5db to each of the other two outputs.

David
 
The ground rod was purchased at Radio Shack, I think $4-$5.

It is about 1/4" diameter, about 3 ft long, and the end is sharpened to a point.

I simply waited until there had been several rainstorms and hammered it in with a 3 lb shop hammer. Took me about one minute.

I have a wire tied from one of the mounting bracket bolts down to the little screw thingy on the end of the ground rod.
 
Paul C,I have one of the Radio Shack beam antennas that I bought for $15 because it was bent.I have it pointed at one particular distant station that I like.The rest are picked up fine off the side.Sometimes being less directional than one of those 200 inch models is a good thing.
On lightning.I have an 80 foot tower next to the house with several antennas on it.I had an 8 foot copper ground rod at the base of the tower.I had another 8 foot copper ground rod as an RF ground driven through a core drilled hole in my basement floor with some short ground wires connecting it to ham radio equipment.The two were not tied together.I had a lightning strike .The bolt came down the tower ,saw the ground rod in the basement,and went to it through my block wall .Knocked chunks of block across the room.I had a Kenwood TS 940S that had a hole completely burned through the cover.Still worked fine!I had a 2 meter amplifier that wasn't even hooked to anything but lost a diode.Anyhow,I am told that separate ground rods are like an annode and cathode and that if I had them tied together the strike would have followed the wire.So,You might want to tie that ground rod to the service ground for your panel.I have no great faith that that would have helped me,but that is what I have been advised.
 
My service panel (and the ground rod it is tied to) is on the opposite side of the house.

I have no illusions that a lightning strike will follow that wire to ground. Lightning is a gazillion volts and will hit whatever is closest. Or do weird things. I have a friend whose house was hit. The lighting bolt hit his TV antenna, out of his TV and stereo equipment in the living room, went down the hallway and out through the kitchen door, hit the swimming pool. His wife saw it as she was in the kitchen at the time!

Read up on "lightning rods". It used to be thought that they would attract lightning and ground the bolt. But what they really do is dissipate the charge in the ground that attracts the bolt to begin with.

I have seen where lightning struck power poles. It vaporizes the ground wire.

If my gear gets hit I'll buy some more with the insurance money. That's all you can really do.
 
Are you saying that something with as much as 100,000 amps at 100,000,000 volts that has traveled 40,000 feet is not going to follow a number 12 ground wire?
 
Yeah, whoudathunkit??? :scratch2:


Like the 500 lb gorilla, that bolt is going to go wherever it wants to. :D
 
OK, finally got around to locating the Radio Shack antenna. Also bought the 4' ground rod which is made in China. Just curious. As lazy as I am, could'nt I just put this antenna in my room? I mean as far as the reception goes, would'nt it be pretty good, if not as good as it being on the roof? I'm gonna try it out tomorrow night and see what happens.
 
It will work fine in your room. But, higher is better. Less interference. Can reach out further (curvature of the earth and all that). Attic is good. Roof is better. Tower is best.
 
Nice thread Paul, guess I didn't see it earlier. If you are looking to pull in fringe stations and are worried about noise, This amp from Ramsey Electronics is a real good choice. Fun building it also. I use it as a booster :nono: for my LPFM station :D ..when I have it running. But its original intent is as an FM preamplifier.

Steve
 
Not having a noise problem at all. And I am now pulling in far more stations cleanly than I ever thought possible. With the filter mods on my tuner and receivers I am getting stations out to about 150 miles, and not just barely picking up, but nice, clean reception depending on time of day.

The amp looks interesting!
 
Well, I tried the antenna inside the house in the upstairs room hooked up to the Mac 1900 and it really did'nt do too much. Of course, it was lying against the wall. Disappointed, I tried to hold it with my hand in the correct position. Still no improvement. The signal with my little indoor Terk antenna shows 7 or so. Maybe it's already maxed out but the signal strength shows up to 10. I then hooked it up to the Yamaha downstairs and laid it against the wall. Again, not much happening. Then I held the antenna in my hand mimicking the correct position it would be on the roof and voila! All the stations show max signal! I think placing the antenna correctly outside will really help and let the antenna do its magic. And now that I'm on this crazy road, I'm thinking about buying another antenna so that each tuner can have it's own separate antenna. This is getting really crazy. I don't like the possibility of signal loss with the splitting.

Since I've got gutters, instead of the side mounts, I'll use a tripod as there is part of the roof that is flat. For the mast, I'll buy a 10' mast and let that baby climb high into the sky.

2 questions:

1. Regarding tripods, I assume to keep it from blowing over in high wind, it might be a good idea to get some bricks/cement blocks to support it and keep it down?

2. Can I attach the ground wires from the 2 separate antennas and use the same grounding rod?

Thanks to this thread, this endeavor has now become an obsession. It's all I think about at work and when I get home. Damn I hate this hobby!
 
1. Regarding tripods, I assume to keep it from blowing over in high wind, it might be a good idea to get some bricks/cement blocks to support it and keep it down?

The tripod mount attaches to your roof with supplied lagbolts.

2. Can I attach the ground wires from the 2 separate antennas and use the same grounding rod?

Yes.
 
"I don't like the possibility of signal loss with the splitting."

Ya know, there's such a thing as too much of a good thing. Once the signal strength reaches the level required to achieve the "maximium quieting" your tuner is capable of, any more is a waste. Too much and you could possibly overdrive a tuner and, while not dangetous, simply sounds just plain awful.
 
Paul, just one thing.

I think by code that ground rod should be driven fully below ground level and buried. Could be wrong on this, but almost sure I read that somewhere.

I won't tell if you won't, but just thought I'd mention it.
 
OK, a few more hits with the hammer. Not a problem.

I don't know about "code" but it is not an electrical system ground. My electical system is already grounded on the other side of the house below the meter and service panel. This ground rod is only for the antenna.
 
Best to leave a few inches above grade. This will allow you to monitor the corrosion on the connections and occasionally clean them, etc. Doubt that you are subject to code inspections unless you are going to sell or in a commercial property.
 
I think it's largely more a safety issue with a relatively thin but tough piece of metal sticking out of the ground.

While probably a rare possibility, someone could fall on it, or you could run it over with the lawnmower, trip over it, etc.

I'd think if corrosion was a big concern code would not specify the connection to be buried.

And, actually, the ground rod probably should be longer - typically on the order of 8ft, give or take.

Anyway, like I said, I'm not telling if y'all don't - do as you see fit.
 
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