Lightening strikes are God's way of telling my Insurance company I need a new rig.
I ground all my antennas and use lightening protection. The grounds for my house are a mystery too me at this point, but something to look into. I drove two grounding rods as deep as I could get them and I have sold copper heading up my 2m pole. Someone told me I need radials (not the Tires) so I have wire strung out in all the wrong places. Center Point would be proud. My huge Live Oak tree may have to get its own FCC license or at lest a light at the top. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. If my ham gear attracts lightening and we take a hit, the XYL will send me back to collecting comic books. Thanks for all the great information on the topic. Have Fun, Jeff KG5LRP On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 9:57 PM, Howard Bingham via BVARC <[email protected]> wrote: > When we had a backup power generator installed at my sister's over a year > ago, the electricians not only grounded the generator which sits only a few > feet off the ground, but also beefed up existing ground rods onn both > Centerpoint power, but also the ATT phone leads, all grounded in different > directions far apart.. > > All done with City of Deer Park building inspector observing.! > > 73 > > Howard Bingham, ke5apj > > -- > > On 1/16/2017 5:37 PM, Robert Polinski via BVARC wrote: > > I have taken several courses in lightning protection mainly for commercial > communications systems. First, not grounding the antenna will NOT prevent a > strike, and may even attract a strike. The most important part is grounding > and bonding everything so it is all at the same potential. AC ground is > very important. House grounding systems deteriorate over time, Check your > house ground rod, you may need more than one if the ground is high > resistance. All connection should be clean an tight, including those in the > load center. (Breaker box). The ground wire should be #8 or larger, sized > per the size of service. Attached to 8 ft ground rod. The ground wire must > not run through metal conduit unless it is bonded at both ends (will work > as a choke, blocking the surge flow) with no sharp turns. The most > important is that ALL ground rods and systems MUST be bonded together with > no smaller than #8 wire. (Using the above rules) A good ground on one > system and bad on the other will cause the surge to seek the best ground, > That is why is so important to connect (Bond) all grounds together. If you > put lots of effort to assure a good ground system and good quality > indicating surge protection, your odds of an expensive lightning loss is > greatly reduced. Robert KD5YVQ > > -- > > *From:* BVARC [mailto:[email protected] <[email protected]>] *On > Behalf Of *Gayle Dotts via BVARC > *Sent:* Monday, January 16, 2017 3:58 PM > *To:* BRAZOS VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB <[email protected]> <[email protected]> > *Cc:* Gayle Dotts <[email protected]> <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [BVARC] Lightning Strike > > > > Very nice!! Thank you!! > > > > On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 1:29 PM, Michael Monsour via BVARC < > [email protected]> wrote: > > See illustration for the industrial isolation transformer > > > > > > On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 12:42 PM, Bill Dillon via BVARC <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Hi Gayle, > > > > There's a lot of information on lightning protection at: > > > > http://www.arrl.org/lightning-protection > > > > I think you *definitely* want to ground any antenna tower. > > > > There was a great talk on lightning protection at last August's Summerfest > in Austin. The speaker had a contest-grade station, with multiple 100-plus > foot towers that take several direct hits per year. What impressed me was > the use of a system buried radial lines from the towers that had buried, > eight-foot long rods welded to the radial lines at periodic intervals. > Probably overkill for your station, but it is possible to protect radio > systems from even direct strikes. > > > > I can't seem to find links to his talk from the Summerfest site, and a > quick look didn't turn up the notes I took at the talk. In any case, hope > you find the ARRL site of help. > > > > 73 de Bill, KG5FQX > > > > On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 7:52 AM, Gayle Dotts via BVARC <[email protected]> > wrote: > > I’ve got a beach house in Gulf Shores Alabama. Last week it had a direct > hit to the house by lightning, took out the refrigerator, 4 tv’s, phones, 4 > surveillance cameras and much more. Luckily It had no radio gear or > antennas there…which brings me to here… > > My NOW attempt to layer my radio shack for protection against lightning. > Like unplug radio, power and cables, ground radio chassis. I’ve have heard > an antenna doesn’t get hit as such until you ground it at which time it > becomes a lightning rod and as such now attracts lightning, so don’t worry > about the tower as much as the lines coming in. Is this correct? Sorry > for being so chit-chatty guys but this is a real concern that got personal > with the lightning. I don’t have much protection at all except a copper > rod outside my window with the radio chassis grounded there. I guess I > need to add more protection. I have watched you guys at field day just > ground the line, I thought, coming off the antenna in to the radio area, > was there more I didn't see? > > > -- > > _______________________________________________ > BVARC mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org > >
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