One thing I noticed, the Pope's flange mount SO-239 isn't waterproofed, at least not the way I do it. First, a short 1/8" wide copper strip has greater surface area than a wire so greater conductance at VHF. Once soldered into place on the SO-239 center pin a healthy glob of silicone bathtub caulk over the whole insulator to seal that side, then black vinyl tape to seal the PL-259 side. I do it military style, starting an inch or so down the coax tight spiral wrap up to the flange stretching slightly as you go. Then a turn to cover the remaining open threads completely and spiral wrap back to the starting point. Then to finish it off a couple of slack turns so when the tight wrap contracts a bit they take up the tension and don't unwrap leaving tape flapping in the breeze. I've been doing it this way for decades and never had a leak or flapping tape. That Coax Seal black putty is crap, before long it weathers and cracks letting moisture in. I had to replace coax and hardware and reseal several of those messes that left others wondering what went wrong.
Yeah, keep the ground for safety, otherwise a bolt would take the path of least resistance, the coax into your shack. One caveat, often installers use aluminium "grounding wire" like the stuff Rat Shack used to sell. I remember removing a 6M ground plane from the house of an SK and found the aluminium had corroded almost all the way through and the metal was brittle as glass, it crumbled in my hands. If that's the case I'd replace it with 8ga bare solid copper used for grounding the neutral bus in an electrical service entrance panel. Just trot down to your local supply house and talk to the counter person, they'll fix you right up and supply any clamps you may need, bronze is best and all is up to code.
Don't sit under the apple tree when the sky is flashing
When the sky is flashing
When the sky is flashing
NO NO NO don't sit under the apple tree when the sky is flashing
Or it'll burn you to the bone
Sorry ladies, sometimes I just can't help myself.
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