Grounding a dipole

[Dave84]

Hi all,

I was off to a good start, and now I'm not lol

I've made an inverted V dipole posisioned it in the loft and tuned it, and now today the SWR has gone off the chart, I've been told this could be down to a short, open, or lack of ground. I've checked all the connections by eye (multimeter is dead) and everything seems fine. Seeing as it doesn't have a ground and was ok yesterday I'm assuming its got something to do with that.

How do I actually ground the antenna? I don't have a ground spike so could it be ground by wiring to a mains plug ground? Where on the antenna or radio-antenna coax should the ground wire be connected?

Many thanks

[FAFFER]

Dipoles don't need a ground they are a balanced antenna.

Check coax/pl plugs.

NEVER WIRE AN ANTENNA TO THE MAINS!

[Dave84]

ok thanks. Could a poorly insulated leg end cause the same result?

[Anthony123]

I would suspect either the connections or the coax... As its been said you dont need a ground with a dipole... The dipole is a balanced antenna.. There not really meant to be grounded...