Electrical ground plane apparatus

An electrical ground plane apparatus for a circuit board disposed within a chassis, said chassis being operably connected to earth ground, said circuit board having an analog section and a digital section, said analog section having distributed thereon analog circuitry, said digital section having distributed thereon digital circuitry, said analog section further having a connector which connects said analog circuitry to circuitry external to said circuit board, said ground plane apparatus comprising:

• means for grounding said analog section;
• means for grounding said digital section said analog grounding means being operably connected to said digital grounding means;
• and
• means for coupling said analog grounding means to said chassis, said coupling means being proximate said connector and operably connecting said analog grounding means to said chassis so as to substantially minimize the flow of RF energy through said connector to a signal generating unit, while allowing for direct coupling of said analog section to said digital section.