[hpsdr] suggestion: a new project for TAPR

[John]

The grounding system in a ham station should provide as close to
zero ohms as possible between any two grounded items.

ESD grounding is completely different.  Most ESD ground straps
have a 1 megohm resistor in series with the lead and ground mats
also have considerable resistance. This is both for operator safety
and to prevent ESD damage.  If an operator were to contact high
voltage with one hand, and have a zero ohm connection to ground
on the other arm, a lethal current could flow directly through
the heart.  Likewise, if the grounded operator were to touch an
ESD sensitive device which had a charge, the device would discharge
at a high rate possibly damaging the device. Instead the ground
mats, straps present a high resistance to allow any charge on
either the device or operator to bleed off very slowly at a
rate which will not produce damage, and keep any charge from
accumulating.

Testing of either ham ground or ESD ground systems can be
done with an ohmmeter.  The expensive ESD ground testers
provide constant monitoring, and in some cases, computer
tracking, neither necessary on the typical ham workbench.

John
KK6IL


On 9/8/2014 8:08 AM, Ken N9VV (Win-7/64) wrote:
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
> How about this:  A brand new kind of tester for *every* Ham Shack, a
> unit that measures the *ACTUAL GROUND POTENTIAL/RESISTANCE* between any
> ground mat or ground wrist strap on your work surface and your
> environment.
>
> I don't ever remember seeing ANYTHING like this in any Ham magazine.
> Where are our "ESD" monitors" and why don't we have them between our
> rigs and PC's and ground? What about protection for all the delicate and
> expensive electronic parts we are handling now?
>

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