Earthing on radio sites

The increased importance of multiple-user radio sites has brought a variety of professional users and manufacturers into contact with a multiplicity of codes of practice, each of which has different views on how a radio site should be laid out and wired, and also how the earthing arrangements should be installed. The paper discusses the highlights and dangers of this process, and is based on 25 years practical experience of designing, building, and installing multiple-user sites. The purpose of earthing systems on radio sites can be grouped under 4 main headings, which outline the precise intention behind the earthing installation and are grouped in order of simple priority, followed by those less well-known aspects of the requirement, and finally coming to the more complex and erudite, often totally misunderstood aspects of radio frequency earthing. These are: protection of personnel against electrocution; protection against lightning; circulating currents elimination; and radiofrequency earthing.