30' Antenna Pole grounding

[jclint07]

Hope all are doing well! My question involves how to properly ground a 30' HAM/CB antenna pole I will be installing on my personal residence, for my new hobby. My antenna pole will consist of 30' of 1 1/4" RMC. 4 feet of the RMC will be in encased in concrete in the ground. I will be attaching the RMC mast to my soffit with 2 mini clamps, for vertical support, with roughly 15 feet of conduit, above my roof line. As of now, my plan consist of attaching a grounding clamp, at the base of my pole which will then attach to 3-5/8" x 8' copper-clad grounding rods, spaces roughly 6 feet apart. #4 solid copper will serve as my grounding electrode conductor. My existing 200 Amp 120/240 single phase service does not have a concrete-encased electrode or a water line ground. Only a single ground rod out by the meter base. I feel as though I should bond the antenna pole GEC to my main disconnect, instead of driving 3 more ground rods in the ground for nothing. Any advice?

 

[masterinbama]

The rods at your mast won't hurt. The main thing here is to remember that anything you do at the mast must be bonded to your existing grounding electrode system.
I actually went on a burnout where the HAM guy put up his own tower and put an extravagant ground system on his tower. He had failed to bond it to his home GEC. Lightning had struck one or the other and flashed over inside his radio room from his coax connections to the sub panel for his radios. Even though as stand alone systems both were grounded above and beyond code. Placing them in same structure without that simple bond more than likely the cause of the flash over.

 

[crazyboy]

The rods at your mast won't hurt. The main thing here is to remember that anything you do at the mast must be bonded to your existing grounding electrode system.
I actually went on a burnout where the HAM guy put up his own tower and put an extravagant ground system on his tower. He had failed to bond it to his home GEC. Lightning had struck one or the other and flashed over inside his radio room from his coax connections to the sub panel for his radios. Even though as stand alone systems both were grounded above and beyond code. Placing them in same structure without that simple bond more than likely the cause of the flash over.

Agreed, what is considered a sufficient bond if the GEC isn't close by?

 

[ceb58]

Agreed, what is considered a sufficient bond if the GEC isn't close by?

IMPO the only sufficient bond is back in the main disconnect. At our communication towers there is a ring with ground rods encompassing the tower and building. The tower legs, fence, ice protection platforms, grounding bars for the wave guides are all tied to this ring but it finally lands in the main disconnect. We have a single point grounding system. I would bring it to the rod at the house and tie onto that g rod and then go into the disconnect. This is something you dont want to cheep out on.

 

[crazyboy]

IMPO the only sufficient bond is back in the main disconnect. At our communication towers there is a ring with ground rods encompassing the tower and building. The tower legs, fence, ice protection platforms, grounding bars for the wave guides are all tied to this ring but it finally lands in the main disconnect. We have a single point grounding system. I would bring it to the rod at the house and tie onto that g rod and then go into the disconnect. This is something you dont want to cheep out on.

I would agree. Probably need something bigger than a number 6 though.

 

[sameguy]

I think you could space them at 10' in a straight line then jump on to your service rod.