Grounding System

My grounding system was designed to bleed off as much energy as possible, reduce or eliminate static build up and to provide a solid RF ground field for the entire antenna assembly. There are 5 16ft ground rods and 10 8 ft ground rods. Rods separated from each other by the length of the rod. 2 gauge wire feeds all 16ft ground rods and the three towers plus the ham shack together with 6 gauge feeder wires.

Each antenna is connected directly to a polyphase surge protector and directly grounded to the tower, with a 2nd polyphase surge protector on each coax run as it enters the shack. With the exception of my HF dipole which is run on LMR400 all other antennas from the HF log periodic up to the 220 antennas are on 1/2 inch hard line with the 440 and 1296 antennas fed by 7/8 hard line and 1 5/8 respectively. All Hard lines have ground shield straps and bond to the tower as well.

Ground field lay out

Once all ground rods and cables were run, bonded and completed it was fully buried and fresh sod laid over the entire ground field. NOTE: I've been asked why I ran this cable multiple times? IT WAS FREE!

Antenna system

I have both the misfortune to live on a small suburban lot, but at the same time I enjoy no HOA issues so both blessed and cursed. We have 3 towers up to support all of our antennas and it works well. With Band Pass filters on all stations we enjoy multi-band operation. Ideally I would love to have 100ft plus towers, 100 plus feet separation between the towers, etc. But you work with what you have.

Towers

Tower #1: 40ft Rohn 25 tower supporting: HF Log periodic 10 to 20 meters and 40,80, 160 meter dipole

Tower #2: 70ft Rohn 45 tower supporting 2 meter G7-144, DB-408, 6 meter beam, stacked vertical 2 meter beams

Tower #3: 45ft Rohn 25 tower supporting 2- Stacked 15 element 2 meter beams, 19 element 70cm beam, 17 element 220 beam, and 45 element 1296 loop yagi