[twaw]

I have a 30' antenna. I've read up and understand that I need to put a ground rod at the base, then bond that to my house ground, etc. etc.. The problem is that I can't determine 100% where the house ground is. It's an old house, I see the panel ground (stranded) going through the sill plate, but when I start digging outside I can't find it. I've dug several holes, and frankly now i'm more concerned about cutting through it or damaging it while digging. Maybe it runs along the foundation before going away from the house. But, I'm making an educated guess that it goes to my 450' well, which is right in line with the stranded ground exit point, about 25'away (it exists about 5 away from well wires). And from what i've read that's a far superior ground than rods. BTW I have no ground issues in the house, everything tests good.

I've also read it's not a great idea to run the #4 antenna ground inside the house and right to the panel ground buss. I'm slightly confused on that, though... even if I found the ground rod or cable outside and bonded to that, that leads to the panel anyway. So I'm not so sure why that's a bad idea.

Suggestions?

I've considered 3 options:
1. don't ground antenna to house panel, just use ground rods. Bad idea due to difference in potential.
2. Use #4, from antenna ground rod, inside house to ground buss.
3. Simply adding another ground rod to the house's ground... keep existing ground, add #4 from panel ground buss to a new ground rod about 16' from panel, outside in a different direction where it is almsot certainly at least 16' from the existing stranded ground cable (and if there's a ground rod, 16' from where that would likely be), then bonding the antenna to that. Am I at risk of creating a ground loop by doing that, or is there another reason why having a 2nd house ground rod is a bad idea? Or even a third, if there are already 2?

My house has been hit by lightning before, lost a lot of electronics, so I really want to ground it properly... without going too crazy on cost. Plus I intend to move the antenna in a couple months another 70' to my nearby field for better reception, and will bond it with rods every 25', which seems to be the conventional wisdom.

BTW I don't mean be sound snooty or whatever, but if you're not sure, please don't speculate. I've researched a lot but would appreciate input someone who knows what they're talking about! Any help is appreciated!