There is nothing wrong with a basement shack, and I had one  for years 
at a previous QTH.  But I wouldn't relegate myself  to a cold and dreary 
  abyss along with last year's Christmas decorations and other junk just 
to  avoid the possibility that there could  perhaps bea  some RF problem.
It's only a hobby.  Don't reorganize your life and household out of 
paranoia.   If you want a basement shack, go for it and build a nice 
one, but hams have shacks in all parts of the house  and life goes on. 
  Even if you set up in the basement, you will probably have some rf 
problem at some point in your ham career.

73, Steve KW3A



On 8/11/2013 7:38 PM, Kent Plemmons wrote:
> Hi everybody,
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> How long is too long to run my rf ground to an earth ground?
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> I would like to put my hf rig in a room on the main floor of our house (not
> a second story) but it would require running my rf ground about 18' to an
> earth ground.  This room is heated in the winter and is comfortable.  The
> other option I have is to put it in the basement which is not completely
> underground and would take some amount of modification to make comfortable
> in cold weather but I would only need to run my rf ground about 6' to an
> earth ground.  I could relocate computer if necessary.  I don't want to get
> all set up with antenna cabling etc. just to find out that I should have put
> everything in the basement where there is a shorter ground.  Any of you have
> similar problem?  Where would you locate?
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> Kent Plemmons somewhere in the Smoky Mountains of NC
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> Skype: kent.plemmons
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> Kk4fff
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