Re: Is the mains 'earth' good enough?
The mains earth is for electrical saftey as already mentioned..using it as a reception earth it can sometimes be a bit noisy depending on location and other stuff buzzing around in the house as the mains earth is bonded to neutral back at the box, this means that you are depending on the power distribution company for a decent signal earth and it does vary somewhat!!
At my location it is just a wire comming down the utility pole and buried in the ground.
A word of caution: if putting in seperate mains feeds to outbuildings, shack etc a seperate earth spike at the end can cause earth loop problems.
I put an armoured cable to our new chalet in the garden and the distribution company would NOT advise me all they said was speak to an electrician (ie a disclaimer) I used the exported PME only, no seperate earth.
As a saftey note I never rely on a home made earth for electrical saftey, only the boards earth.
Hope this is of some use
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