... then go sit in a room with no windows, remove your watch, rings or any
other metal objects, and then bend over, put your head between your legs and
pray the lightning hits some Icom QTH ;-)
On the serious side, my guess is that static electricity destroys more ham
gear than lightning strikes. I think proper grounding at the shack and then
taking normal precautions (i.e., coax switchs which ground connections not
selected, spark plugs or high ohmage resistors across open wire lead-ins,
etc.) is indeed a necessity. And if lightning does strike, well you're
liable to lose everything regardless of what you do.
One thing I highly recommend is overvoltage protection on the AC outlets.
Of course if you dilligently unplug everything each night, or have a master
disconnect switch, then it's not sooo bad, but still, shit happens.
73
Rick
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Lynn Lamb
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 12:24 PM
To: Ten-Tec Reflector
Subject: [TenTec] Grounding
This may get me flamed for going against conventional history, written word,
published engineering practices and old customs.
Grounding:
I ground my towers at least 3 times each with 8' rods at each leg with 00
off the tower at approximately the 10' level slanting to the rods. I don't
agree lightning makes 90 degree bends. This could and perhaps should be
made even better.
I don't use ground rods at the shack since they have not worked for me. I
do bond all the equipment together. The AC is a 30 amp service via a
contacter (spell) which when turned off removes the service house ground not
just the 3 wire 220V. THIS ground can and has caused problems in the past.
Each night or when required the switch is turned off. No ground to the
equipment.
All antennas are disconnected at the Nye Viking tuner, VHF rig and the
beverages switch input (these are truly lightning rods!). All rotators have
quick disconnects as does the DX engineering switch controls.
The computers/monitors/memory keyers are run from a USB and has saved my
bottom several times.
We have plenty of lightning here in East Tennessee. The cable ISP, and
phone lines are disconnected each evening and when storms are in the area.
The phone lines are a real problem here even though protected with filters
at the input of the house and at the pole.
So I don't think ground rods help me at the house no matter how well done.
I've seen concrete blown out when rods are put through it and receive a hit.
Advice: Disconnect everything and pull it to the center of the room, hi.
73, lynn W4NL
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