Topband: A Bit Off Topic

[Tom W8JI]

>
> Any suggestions appreciated on an effective electrical panel lightning
> protection device for my panel breaker box.  Thanks and 73, Bob K3UL
>

Bob and all,

Keep in mind, spacing between conductors is typically very small compared to 
conductor length. Although there can be exceptions, virtually all damage is 
common mode that flows in parallel on bundles between things. (The same is 
generally true for RFI.)

The vast majority of protection comes from a common entrance ground bond, 
where everything entering a system, or everything entering an equipment hub, 
enters through one point where "grounds" are common bonded.

The most prolific damage, and the worse sensitivity to damage, occurs when 
widely separated things enter without being brought together at one point 
and bonded.

Broadcast sites go many years taking direct hits without damage without 
protection devices when they have proper entrance systems, while others are 
damaged by the weakest of external stimuli when they are improperly wired.

I have very few protection devices. I don't have an entrance panel ground, 
take dozens of strikes a year, never disconnect anything, and I never have 
problems. I've never lost a modem, even though the phone lines are above 
ground for miles. I have had wires outside melt from direct hits without 
inside equipment damage.

When stations have repetitious or severe damage, it is almost always a poor 
layout or poor wiring techniques. The best protection devices won't fix 
that.

73 Tom