I'm wrapping up plans for installing a 22 dbi parabolic antenna on my roof to ensure a robust cell signal from T-mobile. I know I need to ground the coaxial cable itself (because it will be connected to a battery powered device, and will not function as an RF shield unless grounded).
I've read that I should "ground the antenna" but this makes no sense to me. It seems that if I actually grounded the antenna, I'd be draining away all the signal it so carefully collects.
I also need to surge protect what I can, but none of the hardware is very expensive, unless I use Ethernet cables instead of Wifi. (Then a strike could zap my computers.)
To "ground the antenna," should I simply ground the antenna mast?
Can such a ground wire be connected to the ground wire used for my coaxial cable?
Would I be better off driving my own ground rods?
Do I need two ground rods or one?
Should I instead run the ground wire over to Georgia Power's ground?
Or would that set up conditions for some sort of 60 cycle hum that would drown out my feeble cell signal?
Is grounding the antenna mast the same as adding surge protection?
I know that I have to match "impedance" in all the components, and that this is a trivial matter of selecting components that have matching Ohm numbers, but I wonder if anyone can explain what impedance is and why it causes problems when there is an "impedance mismatch."
I've read that I should "ground the antenna" but this makes no sense to me. It seems that if I actually grounded the antenna, I'd be draining away all the signal it so carefully collects.
I also need to surge protect what I can, but none of the hardware is very expensive, unless I use Ethernet cables instead of Wifi. (Then a strike could zap my computers.)
To "ground the antenna," should I simply ground the antenna mast?
Can such a ground wire be connected to the ground wire used for my coaxial cable?
Would I be better off driving my own ground rods?
Do I need two ground rods or one?
Should I instead run the ground wire over to Georgia Power's ground?
Or would that set up conditions for some sort of 60 cycle hum that would drown out my feeble cell signal?
Is grounding the antenna mast the same as adding surge protection?
I know that I have to match "impedance" in all the components, and that this is a trivial matter of selecting components that have matching Ohm numbers, but I wonder if anyone can explain what impedance is and why it causes problems when there is an "impedance mismatch."