The biggest benefit a good ground system is that of SAFETY! Should your transmitter develop a problem, UNGROUNDED, there is the possibility of LETHAL VOLTAGES being present on the chassis of the transmitter! This means that you could be electrocuted from simply touching your rig! NOT COOL! Now the same transmitter with the same problem, GROUNDED, will simply "Blow" the AC power fuse and prevent you from receiving any kind of shock! Much Better! This also brings me to another....
SAFETY TIP #2 - NEVER, NEVER, NEVER OPERATE YOUR TRANSMITTER UN-FUSED or If it keeps blowing the fuse DO NOT STICK IN A BIGGER FUSE! THIS IS A GOOD WAY TO GET HURT OR KILLED!
Another benefit to a proper ground system is that your transmitter will "Tune Up" much more easily and quite possibly give you better "On Air" performance as far as coverage goes. A ground for a transmitter will also help to reduce or eliminate any potential QRM problems! This in itself should be enough to motivate you to ground your station.
"OK, I'm convinced! What do I need to do now?" That depends on a couple of things. Your ground will perform best, RF-wise, if you can keep the length of wire connecting your transmitter to the ground rod as short and as large as possible. So with this in mind, try to figure out the best location for planting your ground rod. "Can't I use the traditional Cold Water Pipe connection as a ground?" . Unless your house is old, the probability of PVC or PLASTIC pipe being used to service your house is very high. This means that the cold water pipes running throughout your house probably will not be a good ground. The only way to be sure is to plant your own ground rod.
Ground Rods are commonly available through Electrical Supply Houses. Get one that is around EIGHT feet in length, the longer the better. Your better ground rods will be copper coated steel. You can expect to pay in the neighborhood of $15 for a suitable rod. DO NOT USE THE RADIO SHACK 4 FOOT SPECIALS! They are a waste of time because they are not long enough!
Now that you have your ground rod, it's plantin' time! Get a ladder and a sledge hammer and with much manual labor, drive that rod down until only 3 or 4 inches are remaining above ground.
Connecting the ground rod to the transmitter can be done in several ways. There are a couple of important items that should be observed. The first is to keep the length of the connecting wire as short as possible. Second, use as heavy gauge (Bigger) wire as you can. Last, make sure the wire is one, continuous piece. I have used Romex wire for my ground. Romex is the three conductor wire used for AC wiring in most homes. For best results use all three wires these can be easily stripped out for your ground system. The other alternative is to use the ground braid of the larger coax cable like RG-8. If you have old cable that is no longer suitable for feeding an antenna, it will make quite handy ground wire. Again, this can be stripped out but is a little more difficult and time consuming to do.
The connection of the wire to the ground rod can be done with a couple of automotive type hose clamps. Get small ones just big enough to accommodate the wire and rod. Make sure and clean the rod so it's nice and shiney before you make the connection. After you make the connection, paint the exposed rod and connection with Day Glo orange paint to help prevent oxidation and so no one trips over it or runs over it with the lawn mover!
Connecting the wire to the transmitter can be done either by connecting the wire directly to the CHASSIS, and there is usually a screw terminal for this purpose or you can get fancy by using a Lug terminal to make the connection. Either way is fine.
Now that your transmitter is properly grounded, this point at where the ground rod is connected can and should be used as a connection point to ground the rest of your station equipment as needed.
Now for those of you who want the ultimate ground system , here are some more helpful hints. Use multiple ground rods. Two rods will work better than one and four ground rods will perform better that two. Multiple rods will perform best when placed farther apart than they are long. If you use multiple rods, just remember to connect all rods to a single connecting point. Another helpful tip for those who live in areas where soil conductivity is a problem, before you drive your rod, take a post hole digger and dig a post hole down about three feet, drive your rod down the center of this hole and then fill the hole with water softener salt up to about 6 inches from the top of the hole. Fill the rest of the hole with dirt and then the rain will leach out the salt into the soil and increase your ground rod's effectiveness. The downside of this approach is that is salt is corrosive to copper and will destroy your ground rod sooner than normal.
Live on the Second or Third story of a apartment building and can't really install a ground? Not a problem, while not as effective as a "True Ground" a "Counterpoise" can be used to help compensate for the lack of a ground rod. A counterpoise is nothing more than a wire that is at least one wavelength long. It is then connected to a transmitters ground terminal and will function somewhat as a ground. To figure out the length of your counterpoise wire, see the section on Antennas. Another alternative is to use a artificial ground. MFJ manufactures one, The Model # is MFJ-931 and lists for $80 and could provide you with alternative ground.