Grounding the RSP2pro and stray currents

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espenfjo
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2018 7:48 pm

Grounding the RSP2pro and stray currents

Post by espenfjo » Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:56 am

Hi everyone,

I live in an apartment complex without any good ways to ground my antennas. I've found that connecting the antenna ground to my radiator pipes really improves signal strength, the only problem is that it seems like those pipes carry a lot of current with them.

I measured with a clamp-on-ampere meter and found that the pipes carry at least 4-5 A, and 300-400 mV, enough to give me a jolt when touching the wires I have hooked up to it.
I am very hesitant to connect this to the RSP2 N/G ports in case I damage the device. Connecting an LED (I do not believe I have any good diodes at hand) really devastates the signal strength, so thats not really an option.

Is this safe, do I have any options? Making a long counterpoise to act as ground isnt really an option as I live in an apartment.
Last edited by espenfjo on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
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g1hbe
Posts: 494
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2015 3:28 pm
Location: Cheshire, UK

Re: Grounding the RSP2pro and stray currents

Post by g1hbe » Tue Jan 01, 2019 12:13 pm

I don't know much about domestic earthing arrangements. Here in the UK there seem to be several systems. But 4 Amps flowing along your pipes sounds wrong to me!

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Andy

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