Tuner grounding

[KT0DD]

Hello, I have an attic dipole antenna due to an HOA situation. The duplex I'm in has hot water heating. I am wondering if grounding my tuner to the copper pipe on a hot water heating element in my room would suffice for a ground. Thank You & 73.

Todd - KT0DD

[WX7G]

If it works well (no RF bite on the mic or key) without a ground I would leave it as it is. It is (somewhat) RF grounded through the rig via the AC power ground.

[AA4PB]

A dipole is a balanced antenna therefore you shouldn't need any RF ground, if that is your intent.

I have successfully used the hot water radiator in an old building as a counterpoise for an end-fed wire antenna. The tuner, however, sat on the window sill, less than 1-foot away from the radiator. If you have to run any sizable length of wire to a ground connection then it is not going to provide a low impedance path on all bands.

[K1CJS]

About the only reason for a ground on the tuner is to provide a path for any static charges to drain.  If you've got a proper antenna installation with arrestors and suppressors already in line, there is no reason to ground the tuner.  No ham worth his ticket would want to use it for an RF ground.

[AA4PB]

No, if the tuner is feeding an unbalanced antenna like and end-fed wire then the tuner MUST have an RF ground or some type of counterpoise. In my case I was on the second floor of a building, had no access to the roof, ground, or any other part of the property. The antenna had to be #28 wire, stealth and it had to be end-fed. So, it was either use the radiator as an RF ground (which actually worked quite well) or stay off the air.

Old radiator systems in commercial buildings (like dorm rooms) were rather massive with lots of metal pipe connected to them so they can make a pretty good counterpoise.