[OZAPRS] rf earth

[Steven Heimann]

On Tue, 2010-04-27 at 02:05 +0100, Paul Mullins wrote:
<snip lots>
> NOW ANOTHER WORD OF WARNING.
> 
> Only licensed people should play around with 240 volts mains, this is what
> the law states, if you are competed I think that's the right word, you could
> make a great earthing system, ALSO you need to keep the two system apart
> easy said. Also beware of potential voltage differences on the two earthing
> systems, As I said my RF earth is better than my mains earth, so be aware .
> 
</snip>

I would think that keeping the two earths separate creates a danger.
The two earths will be connected through the case of your expensive
radio gear.  If a spike comes down the mains (wire gets hit by
lightning) these is a discharge path through your transceiver to the RF
earth which you have just said is better than your mains earth and thus
is a very attractive path for all those electrons.

I am not sure what the best answer is, but creating the potential for a
potential difference between the two earths seems like a bad idea.

Regards
Steven