Club Program Ideas -- Grounding the Station

In this series on Club Program ideas, I’m providing possible programs for clubs to use in their meetings. You can find a full explanation of the approach in Club Programs – The Series.

Today’s program idea: grounding the station.

Grounding -- both for safety and for RF -- is tricky business. From "whole house" surge protectors to copper plates attached to everything in the shack, grounding is filled with mystery, urban legends, and science. Perhaps in that order.

A program on grounding the station would serve all hams well. Here's some possible program subjects:

• Urban legends of station grounding
• Identifying your inside protection needs
• Implementing your "single ground point ground panel"
• What surge protectors really do

Practical grounding tips, including pictures on a screen, would turn this normally dry subject into supercharged.

Scot, K9JY