Grounding question

[nateonearth]

Hi, there.
I've gotten some great advice (http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=749) from this forum on what OTA antennas to use for my location. I've ordered/received them, but need a bit of advice on proper grounding in my situation...

I'm planning to run the coax in through the attic vent. Then, in an effort to avoid running all the way down to my basement for distribution through the house, I'd like to plug it into an existing coax wallplate in the upstairs master bedroom.

I've actually already done this with an inside Phillips antenna and it works great. The signal from the Phillips travels through the house's coax wiring down to my basement. From there, I switched around the existing Cable coax splitters, so that the antenna signal from upstairs now feeds to the coax wallplate by my TV downstairs.

But...the Phillips internal antenna doesn't need grounding. My roof antenna will.

So, my question is: If I connect the new roof antenna into my home's coax wiring, will the antenna "inherit" the grounding security of the coax wiring...or do I need to give the roof antenna it's own ground?

Hope that makes sense...Thanks for your thoughts!

[John Candle]

I understand 100%. I route the cable different ways at my house. The best way to ground is to run a copper ground wire from the roof top antenna mounting , in one continues unbroken run on the out side of the roof and house to the ground rod that is located in the ground at the electrical service on the side of the house. The top of the ground rod should be buried about one foot below ground level. Or clamp the ground wire to the ground wire that goes to the ground rod. You can get ground wire and clamps at home depot. I have done the same thing at my house. I put a coax grounding block at the location where the ground wire is clamped to the antenna mounting , just put it on the end of the ground wire and tighten the screw. I also ran the coax in to attic through the roof vent.

[John Candle]

Also at http://www.amazon.com use these type of power , coax , phone , surge and power conditioners MP-HTS400HP , MPHTS200

[GroundUrMast]

http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=901 (Includes links to generic grounding diagrams)

[John Candle]

As an example of how the grounding issue can get out of hand. This from the National Lightning Safety Institute. http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_lhm/surge-protection.pdf For even more go to the home page http://www.lightningsafety.com