I am very new to the art of amateur radio, and just got myself an antenna. I don't intend to use it in a permanent location (for example fixed to my house), rather I plan to be using it at parks and outside with a tripod of some fashion. My question is, is grounding the antenna (I understand the radio itself should be grounded) necessary for a setup in clear weather with a temporary spot? For clarity, this is a setup in the United States.
Thank you for your time.
I'm an exclusively SOTA and POTA activator. I don't have a home station due to urban noise.
The most important thing is to avoid putting an antenna when there is lightening risk or near electric power line wires (which is also noisy).
If you lift the vertical antenna element with a helium balloon or kite, you want a resistor to the ground to avoid static charge buildup.
But other than that, I do not use safety ground (through RF chokes) or RF ground (direct grounding). The RF ground ruins the antenna efficiency with my antennas (vertical monopole with elevated radial system), and I definitely avoid it.
So, while safety ground is unnecessary, I would definitely pay attention to RF exposure safety especially when operating 100W. I would definitely sit a few meters away from the antenna when operating 100W on HF high bands (and 6m and 2m also require care).
POTA has a document site with many documents, including activator guides. I am a POTA document volunteer and edited most pages, some very heavily, at some point, and also wrote a few pages, so please check them out.
