should I ground the mast or the antenna tower?

Answer 1

If it is a supporting structure only, then yes you should ground it. It's probably part of your city/county/area building code that you do it.

If it is a radiating element (i.e. 1/4-wave element of a ground-plane antenna), then no it shouldn't be grounded, but you definitely need a sufficient lightning arrestor put at the base.

.

Answer 2

If we're talking outdoor TV antennas definitely ground the mast. The last thing you want is to burn your house down because your TV antenna was struck by lightning.

There are two distinctly different types of antenna tower, so we have to be more specific. Some towers are merely glorified masts. Although an antenna is mechanically attached to the tower, a transmission line (usually coaxial cable) connects the antenna to the electronics inside the house. These types of towers should always be grounded to prevent the accumulation of static charge and to dissipate a lightning strike.

The second type of tower is also called a quarter-wave Marconi antenna because the tower itself forms an antenna that radiates the signal. Commercial radio stations frequently use this type of antenna/tower and they can be readily identified because the legs of the tower rest directly on glass or ceramic insulators. Never directly ground this type of tower because you will be shorting out the transmitter (a very expensive mistake). Instead, ground the mast through a spark gap designed to conduct when struck by lightning but open circuit during normal operations.

Answer 3

After reading some of the statements I would repeat everything listed above, except we need to add one more thing. Telling to Ground is one thing, but telling him how to ground it is another thing.
Get 10 foot ground rods, and jerk them into the ground. Attach it to the mast. Next dig a trench around to the main power distribution panel and bond it to the ground rod there as well. This is called single point grounding and eliminates a ground loop caused by the in depended ground rod. A ground loop causes a differential in grounding and now you have two ways lightning can come in, and two ways lighting can go out. The question remains. What is between the two ground rods if not bonded together? A fried TV set. Lightning is trying to go from point A to C and B (TV) just happens to be in the way. Someone will ask, does lightning come up from ground. You bet it does. Lightning is taking the path of least resistance and metal is sure low in resistance compaired to dirt.
If I have totally confused you, sorry, but if this makes perfect sense, make sure you ground the mast, and also attach your power ground to the mast as well.

Answer 4

Ground anything that's not part of the antenna