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[TowerTalk] Value of using coax relays to ground antennas?

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Subject: [TowerTalk] Value of using coax relays to ground antennas?
From: Mat Eshpeter <kk1c@live.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2012 08:20:42 -0400
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
I plan to ground the coax shields at the top and bottom of the tower; I will 
also ground the center conductors of the coax runs at the tower base via ICE or 
similar products. I was thinking about going a step further and using coax 
relays (after the ICE/MOV products) to have the antennas grounded when the 
relays are not energized. The antennas would only be connected back to the 
shack when I hit the 12V switch back in the shack.
In order to save on wire cost, I was thinking about putting the relays at the 
cable entrance panel on the outside of my house -- this would cut down on the 
relay wire from 220' to about 20' and eliminate the concern of voltage sag as 
well; but I am not sure how effective it would be versus mounting the relays at 
the base of the tower. The house entrance panel will have ICE/MOV surge 
suppressors as well.

My question -- given the shield grounding and center conductor grounding as 
described above, does this relay-based approach add any meaningful lightning 
safety to my installation (at either the tower base or house entrance panel)? 
The coax relays I am thinking of using are pretty small (Tohtsu CX-600M) so if 
the surge suppressors don't work as I expect them to, my feeling is that these 
relays will get destroyed by the first strike. 
Has anyone done this or something similar? I would appreciate hearing about 
your experience.
thanksMatKK1C

                                          
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