I called the utility. The technician berated me that the utility company did not provide the home service ground, like I was a complete idiot. He could have been more cordial, but I understood his pedantic pontificating.

So, the builder creates a service ground. And, it is supposedly near the meter. And, the service panel in the garage has the ground wire attached to the ground rod.

Well, to the casual observer, there is no ground rod above ground level. The meter is not on the same wall as the circuit breaker box. The circuit breaker box is west of the meter, on an interior wall, in the garage. Any ground from it would have to go down below the cinder block foundation wall, under it, through it, somehow, to get to the meter. I can get to this foundation wall, the back wall of the garage, if I crawl through the crawl space.

I'm thinking that using a shovel to dig a big hole to find the ground rod would be bad.

How can I find the service ground?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 4MUL8R,

I am not sure what has brought upon your search for the location of the ground rod, but if it is a must... The top of the ground rod should be evident, but if the ground wire from the meter socket disappears deep under the foundation with no sign of the actual rod; I would not start excavating random holes looking for it.. I would drive a new ground rod at the meter, jump a ground wire from the existing ground, onto an acorn on the rod, and call it a day.
But as stated earlier, it depends on why your hunt for the grounding point was initiated.

Amateur radio antennas and equipment must be properly grounded. All must be grounded to the service ground.

There is no ground wire visible at the meter. Only a grey conduit below the meter.

I would check near your water shut off. The water service is the primary ground if you have a copper water service. If you have any copper piping in your house, that will have a bond wire as well. Ground rods could be either you primary or secondary ground. If your house was built in the last 20 years, you may have a Ufer ground, which is just a piece of rebar that's tied to your foundation rebar.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
Amateur radio antennas and equipment must be properly grounded. All must be grounded to the service ground.

There is no ground wire visible at the meter. Only a grey conduit below the meter.

If you're looking at your meter you're looking in the wrong place. Your GEC goes to your main electrical panel or service disconnect if you have one.

I will look for the copper wire to the true ground at the electrical panel. I recall seeing it the last time circuit breakers were installed.

It would be very nice to ground the antennas and the radio equipment to this single ground point, without trying to find the rod in the ground (if present).

I will see if I can find records for the home construction that would indicate a UFER. The pipes are, in general, plastic, on this 2000-vintage home.

Call an electrician to come out and locate it for you, and advise you on the best way to add another one and bond the two together. I'm going to be doing the same thing, for the same reason, later this summer. In my case the service ground is on the exact opposite corner of the house from where my shack is going to be. Murphy's a SOB isn't he?

I see what you're after now... I am sure that you are familiar with the code that pertains to your specific equipment, but you may need an Antenna Discharge device, or a separate ground rod for the antenna.
Expert308 is spot on.. If you can't find it, try to find an electrician to help with your install. Adding to a ground field isn't overly complicated, but it has consequences if not done properly.

Antenna System Bonding and Grounding Requirements

I just finished one up this week. My new antenna has lightning arrestors on the coax and running to a separate ground rod at the antenna. I also have another rod for RF grounding at the house. I’m not concerned about electrically grounding the radios as they are grounded to the house. Given my new antenna is roughly 60 yards away from my service ground, I wasn’t about to tear up my lawn bonding the two. I don’t guess that it’s even close to code, but it should be safe.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
….. If your house was built in the last 20 years, you may have a Ufer ground, which is just a piece of rebar that's tied to your foundation rebar.

This!
You may not actually be able to find it. It could be inside your foundation wall or outside depending on how you he electrician decided to run it.

Having recently passed my Technician License exam, this is still quite fresh in my mind. Though there are multiple questions regarding Antenna Installation(s), there was a very specific question in Sub-Element T0 – SAFETY that comes to mind on this topic, assuming a Tower mounted Antenna:

In Group T0B – Antenna Safety: Tower Safety and Grounding, Installing Antennas, Antenna Supports

Question T0B08: Proper grounding method for a tower - Separate eight-foot ground rods for each tower leg, bonded to the tower and each other.

And obviously bonded to the Service Ground as indicated in the excellent (and nicely documented!) post by 'American Pit Bull'.

Thanks to all the hams who are helping. I was trying in this thread to avoid discussion the amateur radio requirements, as I am reading all these in preparation for the installation. However, early in the thread I was asked why I was interested in the ground location.

I am still very confused as to where the service ground physically is located, which is the foundation of a good antenna installation. I have called the county, who gave me the name of the original electrical contractor, and I hope they might have records as to how the service ground was installed.

My house ground is tied to my copper piping only

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
….. If your house was built in the last 20 years, you may have a Ufer ground, which is just a piece of rebar that's tied to your foundation rebar.

This!
You may not actually be able to find it. It could be inside your foundation wall or outside depending on how you he electrician decided to run it.

I thought code required that there be some kind of removable panel to see where the rebar bonds to the wire from the panel.

Am I wrong??

I also just put in a second ground round for antenna and station grounding.

I had a ground wire leaving the meter box in a conduit into the dirt next to the foundation.

I dug with garden hand shovel and followed it. The conduit only went 3 or 4 inches below ground level, then just followed the bare wire until I ran into the top of the ground rod it was about 8" below the grass and about 24" away from the foundation.

pulled of the existing clamp and wire, used a drill mounted carbide grit wheel to clean up the rod and then put the old and new one clamp and wires on.

quote:

If you're looking at your meter you're looking in the wrong place. Your GEC goes to your main electrical panel or service disconnect if you have one.

I agree with Skins if done correctly your main panel or main disconnect is where you start looking for the ground wire

Again if done correctly you will find a bare copper or green wire leaving one of those locations headed for a ground rod and to the water

In nearly as short a time as SF questions are answered, the original electrical contractor explained the situation.

The ground wire in the panel, on the interior wall in the garage, is to be traced to find a location where it enters the earth. This will be in the crawl space, to start. Where this wire goes is the direction to search for the ground rods.

Somewhere outside the home walls are two ground rods, spaced six feet apart. These are bonded together. One is connected to the service panel ground.

The rods were installed and inspected before final grading, and are presently below grade.

The connection to the ground rod for the antenna is likely to be under present grade level, about six inches.

I hope the ground rods are on the meter side of the house, where I need to connect the antennas.

I don't see why you couldn't just use a 'Lay-in' type lug to connect the antenna ground to the existing bare service ground wire. This could be accomplished in the crawl space/above grade where the wire is already exposed, so NO digging req'd. IANAEC though, so I'd check w/ 'Skins2881' or another local Electrical Contractor to confirm that meets Electrical Code requirements prior to doing so. Of course, I'm assuming you're installing a roof mounted external antenna, but you haven't mentioned whether that's the case, or it's to be mounted on a tower, and that likely makes a big difference per the Electrical Code.

I will look tomorrow in the crawlspace. I can purchase 25 feet of #6 AWG solid copper for less than $30. If I can find a ground rod, so much the better. But, I see the logic of grounding to the visible wire, and bringing that connection outside through the brick and cinder block wall to the antenna box that I plan to install. Electrically, to this neophyte, if the wire to the panel is grounded, and I bond to it, and it is grounded to a couple of ground rods, it should be all the same ground potential.

That sounds correct. What is no good is when two non-electrically-connected ground rods exist.

I live in an old house of many renovations, and if I could not physically see my ground rod every time I walk past a certain point, I'd worry that it didn't exist. I'd worry that adding a second one would actually be adding the *only* one.