HF Grounds and AC/DC Grounds

My question is about grounds. In particular whether radio grounds should be “isolated” or at least separate from The normal DC ground (negative terminal, engine block, keel or ground plate).

Seems to me if they are separate they may still form a circuit and therefore current through the saltwater outside the boat. So may as well make them all common.

This question related particularly to HF ground installations which are all to do with conductive surface area (capacitance) close to the antenna base.

The question is after the large surface area ground next to the HF tuner should I run a short thick wire to the common ground of the boat?

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Sep 08, 2007
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Bonding
by: John Payne

It isn't a ground but actually part of the aerial system and it doesn't need to be connected to the main ground in fact I advocate keeping it separate in my books, as long as the ground component i.e. ground plate or whatever is adequate for signal transmission. In general they don't have a track record in boats as causing corrosion, personally I wouldn't connect this and make sure you get best performance with the ground. Answer is don't run a wire from large surface area ground, no point, no advantage to you

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