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[TowerTalk] Length of Mast

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Length of Mast
From: n4zr@contesting.com (Pete Smith)
Date: Sat May 31 22:39:37 2003
At 06:45 PM 5/31/03 -0700, Michael Tope wrote:
>Actually it brings up a good question for the lightning technology experts
>on Towertalk. How come you only see lightning rods on barns and not
>houses? Is that just because most barns are old, and people have stopped
>using lightning rods, or is the their some other reason?


My house -- a farmhouse -- came with an array of 6 lightning rods, complete 
with woven aluminum down-conductors.  Lightning rods are fairly common on 
houses out here.  I am very unclear on whether they offer any protection at 
all, because the ground conductors seem to violate the low-inductance 
requirement that we hear from Polyphaser.  It's not clear to me why 
lightning would "prefer" the rods to other ground conductors that might be 
available in the neighborhood, or on nearby power poles.


73, Pete N4ZR
The World HF Contest Station Database was updated 9 May 03.
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