At 03:12 PM 8/12/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>Grounding is not to attract lightning, but to take away the static charge
>that accumulates on antenna, etc. It is the accumulated stateic charge that
>actually attracts lightning.
Close enuff... It's a charge differential that attracts lightning.
The stepped leader builds the ionized channel for the initial visible
lightning discharges in approximately 150 foot steps. Think on that
a minute... if your tower is, say, 400 feet away from your shack, the
probability of a strike on a tower is more-or-less independent of one
on your house.
(That still doesn't deal with the bonding issue, because the ground
differential will be hellacious if you don't.)
> Disconnect coaxes (I use a coax switch with a
>disconnecting, grounded position for this purpose), but don't worry about
>your ground attracting lightning.
I've never had to disconnect coaxes but if you do you want to cap your
connectors with shorting caps or use a grounding switch... I trust the
quality gas tubes I use more than I trust my memory to handle the
switch.
>Use flat grounding braid for your grounds.
Woah, braid will explosively disintegrate during a strike. You wan't
strap.
>Hope I don't get flamed too badly for this post. Cheers. Vern N2YZS
Hope I didn't disappoint. :-)
73,
Eric, KB0YDN
--
Eric F. Richards
efricha@dimensional.com
"The weird part is that I can feel productive even when I'm doomed."
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