GROUNDING of the antennas SEPARATE from the house wiring ground and thus
the radio equipment ground is ESSENTIAL!!! Just leaving an antenna
floating is only a bit of improvement over leaving it connected. Safety
DEMANDS that the lightning have an independent path to ground. Then the
air gap of the disconnected cables (in the coke bottle of desired) will
see only the voltage developed in that antenna ground, not the many
megavolts of the cloud to earth gap. But the voltage can be substantial,
so the gap between the radios and the disconnected and externally
grounded needs to be a foot or more. AND THAT INCLUDES THE RADIO GROUND.
Having better grounds from the radios than the phone and power line have
leads to disaster from power line hits of a much larger area. That's why
I open the radio ground as well as the feed lines when I disconnect.
Doesn't meet NEC that way, NEC is WRONG!
73, Jerry, K0CQ
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