Grounding Satellite Dish in Apartment

[jreamer]

Re: Grounding Satellite Dish in Apartment

This all seems very strange to ground a dish indoors, but I do want to comply with the code. What can I ground it to indoors? I have metal pipes in my apartment, the only thing I can think of is to the electrical panel or the metal box around an outlet. Is that ok? Also it is probably 15 feet from the dish. I know the distance matters from the point of entry, but with it indoors there is no point of entry.

 

[petersonra]

Re: Grounding Satellite Dish in Apartment

the code does not seem to deal with the possibility that someone might install a dish or other antenna inside at all, based on the way the code section is written.

I think the allowance for running the ground conductor inside or outside is about what is possible/convenient rather than where the antenna is located.

Many of you have installed wifi systems indoors. they all have antennas. how many of those antennas have a ground wire run to the GE? a lot of plants have radio antennas inside the building. do they run a wire to a GE? I have never seen one that does.

 

[BarryO]

Re: Grounding Satellite Dish in Apartment

Originally posted by petersonra:
I agree. so why are rabbit ears not grounded ion this way? The description of antenna certainly covers them.

Simple. No where in 810 does it require antennas to be grounded. Antenna masts and supporting structures, yes. Antenna lead-in discharge units or cable shields where they enter the bulding, yes. But not the antennas themselves. Grounding dipoles such as rabbit ears would make them non-functional.

A set of rabbit ears is not mounted on a conductive mast. Its leads do not enter a building. Therefore, no grounding is required.

Back to the orginal topic, the FCC OTARD Rule says the landlords can require all portions of the installation to remain within a tenant's exclusive area. In the case law, they have also said it is reasonable for a landlord to require compliance with the NEC, for safety reasons.

If you scan fora devoted to landlords and HomeOwners' Associations (HOA), they've hated the OTARD Rule ever since it was published. With the change in the 2002 Code requiring the grounding conductor to be attached within 5 ft. of the water pipe's entrance to a building, it is now impossible, in alot of apartments and condos, to comply with Article 810 while still remaining within the tenant's exclusive area. That change in the Code was a (perhaps unintended) gift to landlords opposed to the OTARD rule (e.g.., those that had cushy arrangements with the local cable company), and many are now using NEC compliance as a way of prohibiting tenant-owned DBS dishes.

 

[eprice]

Re: Grounding Satellite Dish in Apartment

Originally posted by jwelectric:
When reading article 810 I first look at the scope;

810.1 Scope.
This article covers antenna systems for radio and television receiving equipment, amateur radio transmitting and receiving equipment, and certain features of transmitter safety. This article covers antennas such as multi-element, vertical rod, and dish, and also covers the wiring and cabling that connects them to equipment. This article does not cover equipment and antennas used for coupling carrier current to power line conductors.

Here is where I see the word dish so I know that a dish receiver is covered in this article.
As I read the article I am looking for relief from the grounding electrode conductor for an inside installation. The only reference I find to the indoor installation is in 810.18(C) but find no relief on the grounding electrode conductor.

In 810.21(G) it states that this conductor is allowed to be installed inside or outside which leads me to believe that a dish installed indoors would be required to be grounded.

I disagree. Yes, 810 covers these antennas, but rather than looking for relief from the requirement to ground, I start by looking for the requirement to ground. The only requirements I can find are in 810.15 and 810.20(C). I don't think an indoor antenna would be mounted on something we would call a mast or metal structure, so I don't think we would apply 810.15, and 810.20 clearly only applies to outdoor installations. 810.21 tells us how to install the grounding conductor when it is required by the previous two references, but it does not, in and of itself require a conductor.

(Edit for spelling)

[ October 26, 2005, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: eprice ]

 

[petersonra]

Re: Grounding Satellite Dish in Apartment

so the simple answer is to mount the dish on a nonconductive mounting assembly inside?

no mast to ground, no cable entering the structure so no need to ground anything??

 

[BarryO]

Re: Grounding Satellite Dish in Apartment

Originally posted by petersonra:
so the simple answer is to mount the dish on a nonconductive mounting assembly inside?

no mast to ground, no cable entering the structure so no need to ground anything??

If you want to follow the letter of the code, yea, that appears to be the case.