Look, I don’t enjoy this any more than you do. Once a quarter, I beg, I plead, I cajole, and I know there are some of you who still haven’t grounded your antennas. Trust me when I tell you this is the best thing you can do and not doing it is just a one-way ticket to burning your house down.
If you haven’t looked at it, we have a complete guide to grounding that will take you through getting the parts you’ll need. It’s right here, all you have to do is click or tap. It’s really simple and honestly even though I beg you to go down to city hall and get the local ordinances, most of the time it boils down to running a copper wire from your antenna to a cold water pipe or to your breaker panel (this is technically bonding not grounding but that’s not the point.)
When you do this, you create a safety barrier that will direct static electricity away from your home and harmlessly into the earth where it won’t hurt you. I won’t guarantee that a thin little wire is going to protect you from a full-on lightning strike, but certainly it’s the first line of defense and it’s soooo easy and really not even that expensive.
In my years at Solid Signal I’ve heard every excuse. “It’s too expensive.” “It’s too hard.” “I’m not allowed to go up on my roof.” Yeah, I get that. Copper is expensive, I won’t deny it. It’s also heavy and that makes it expensive to ship. But if you don’t want to buy from us at Solid Signal, go down to a home store. Hire someone (I won’t ask if they’re here legally) to climb up on the roof and attach a ground block and the wire. Just get it done. Whatever it takes.
Because I look forward to the day when I don’t have to repeat this reminder once a quarter, when I haven’t heard a single tragic story about someone who could have grounded his antenna and didn’t. When that happens, I’ll stop writing these stories. Until then… it’s all on you.
