Hans says;
>How come , by the way, that so many hams and their families survived their
>high come-and- hit-me-lightning towers standing out from nearby high
>objects? Is it not strange that so few direct lightning hits have
happened?
One reason I saw advanced ( I can't remember where, but it was a respectable
source) was that the grounded lightning conductor provided a degree of
discharge of the atmosphere, thus preventing charge buld up. Consider a big
(100kV plus) multiple phase overhead AC line. Most have a ground conductor
right up the top, and how often do the towers and ground conductor get hit?
So it suggests that there may be some truth in the theory.
Purely anecdotal, unscientific evidence. Before my tower went up, there was
a strike on one or other of the trees in the vicinity of my house about
every once every 3 years. Since the tower went up in 1985, there hasn't been
one.
73
Peter G3RZP
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