Ground Truth

I was looking around the manual for the Yaesu FTX-1 yesterday. I was very irritated to find the following text at page 16:

 

Why the irritation?  Well, it's because it doesn't take into account that there are in the world various AC grounding systems where the above instructions - or is it advice? - will result in, at best, an unlawful electrical installation.

At worst, it could lead to your innocent-looking ground stake becoming the only available path to earth for possibly several houses in the event of a PME neutral break.

True, there are regular connections to local ground at the base of every few supply poles carrying the AC along the community. But that is only a risk-reducing measure; it doesn't remove entirely the possibility of a neutral break between the last local ground connection and your property. If that happens, your equipment could catch fire and your house insurance, because you had an improperly-installed and unlawful electrical installation, quite likely invalidated.

And possibility can translate into actuality. For a brief while after moving house once, I had such a rod without a direct connection to earth at the incoming mains (the rush to get back on air!) I heard a bang in the street and the PC on which I was writing flickered a bit, the screen dimmed, but it kept working. A fuse had blown on a pole, resulting in a neutral break. My PC was able to achieve sufficient, if rather poor ground through my radio equipment and the earth rod it was connected so that it keep the circuit going. A salutary, real-world warning for you, there. If you have something like this, at the very least, pull out your plug (just switching it off may not work, depending on socket design) when you are not using your radio stuff and definitely overnight.

I wrote about all this a long time ago. I even corrected the RSGB's 'RadCom' when they published the exact-same, wrong advice in that magazine. I never saw the promised correction article they said would be published later - they struggled to find anyone - including me (because I'm not a qualified electrical engineer or electrician) - willing to write it, as I recall. They have since published this advice leaflet.

So, the only advice Yaesu should be publishing is that your grounding installation must be compliant with country and region-specific electrical regulations ('codes') and you should seek professional advice. To highlight just how novel amateur grounding situations are, even to those in the electrical supply industry, it took a regional network manager an hour of conversation and two cups of coffee at my home for the penny to truly click in his mind about the sheer risk posed by improperly-installed ground rods.

It's an interesting question as to legal liability, should someone take Yaesu's text in good faith and do what they say. If I were Yaesu, I'd change that text, pretty quick!