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Three Grounds, Only One Is Real — TCS Transmitter Bench at EPD Labs

Eric Dollard and Connor Fisher walk through the new TCS bench setup at EPD Laboratories in Tonopah, Nevada.

The Ground Problem

The site has three things that we would be tempted to refer to as ground — only one actually is.

The telluric transmission coil transmits through a large water tank buried underground. That tank measures 1 ohm against the power line neutral. Because the coil is actively transmitting through this tank; it is hot — not ground. A second tank is buried nearby to the first, but has an induced current from the first tank resulting from the telluric coil transmission; thus they are electrically coupled making the second tank hot. Also not ground.

The power company’s so called ground is also not legitimate since it is bonded to the high voltage neutral at the main panel. Due to some national dictate most transformer connections are being bypassed; connecting the customer directly to the high voltage neutral on the secondary side of the power line transformer. Driving a couple ground rods at the main panel do not in any way reconcile this issue; they are simply there as a result of misguided electrical codes, and in a sense are “just for show.”

In order to establish an actual ground for the telluric test platform radio equipment; the crew at EPD drove six ground rods spaced 10′ apart. These are all bonded, and terminate inside the lab to an aluminum bus on the back of the TCS workbench. The resistance between the water tank and this station ground measured about 3 to 5 ohms — acceptable.

The TCS Bench

The A.C power coming into the building is run through an isolation transformer in order to seperate our power supply from the high voltage neutral. Either leg of each outlet measures 60V with reference to ground, but compound with eachother to provide a standard 120V A.C connection. This floating ground arrangement is consistent with how the NAVY would typically wire their ships.

A 12-volt DC power supply with twist lock outlets runs the full bench length. We have a battery arrangement with associated charging appartus; along with a separate 12-volt DC power supply which can be run off of the above mentioned A.C system. A 24-volt D.C leg on our twist lock outlets is planned as well for other radio equipment, but is not actively implimented.

Gang Green Energy

In this demonstration, Eric puts the power company’s signal as picked up between their high voltage neutral, and our isolated ground on the oscilloscope. It looks more like a video signal than anything from a power frequency standpoint. It has a repetition rate at the power frequency, but there’s nothing about it that even remotely resembles a sine wave. Very unstable — it can be seen in previous demonstrations that this visual signal morphs and tranforms based on as of yet unkown conditions.

The waveform is more likely 180 cycles per second rather than 60 because of the three phases adding up in the neutral. The distortion is caused in part by rectifiers converting AC to DC. There is not a proper inductance on the line in order to prevent transients from appearing; nor is there implimented synchronous condensors to keep everything in phase based on the inertia of mechanical apparatus. Switching power supplies produce further glitches and RF on the line. This is what happens when you use a Y-connected power system and start hooking inappropriate equipment to the power line.

This is what plays havoc with all audio and radio equipment and permeates the entire electrical system. That’s why so much effort went into the isolated ground system.

Eric points out that every recording studio and radio station he built was wired this same way. Normally if you took the active lead on a phone plug in a guitar amplifier and touched your finger to the tip, you’d blow your speakers out. In the studios he built, all you’d hear would be the buzzing of the gang green energy off in the distance — no damage, no overpowering of the speakers.

Once the TCS system is fully lit up and everything’s hot with RF, restrictions get even tighter on keeping it all stable. This is an ongoing effort; the work of EPD Laboratories is presently reliant on the donations from people like yourself. If you are interested in seeing the continuation of our efforts; please contribute to our work!

ESTC 2026 – Meet Eric in Person

Eric Dollard will be presenting at the 13th Annual Energy Science & Technology Conference — June 24-28, 2026 in Spokane, Washington. All 55 in-person seats are sold out. Live streaming tickets are still available.

Get all the details and tickets at: emediapress.com/conference

Support EPD Laboratories Inc 501(c)(3) with donations at: ericpdollard.com/donate

Explore Eric Dollard’s Work

Check out the extensive collection of Eric’s presentations, books, and videos:

emediapress.com/product-category/authors-presenters/eric-dollard/

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