[TowerTalk] Lightning... and pointed rods!

[Bob Wanderer]

They work, provided htere's a good ground system.  The issue
is whether they work as claimed.  The original claim was
that they prevented a strike from hitting the tower (or
whatever these devices were "protecting").  This was tested
by the FAA and found to not be true.  So the claims were
changed.

The ion discharge is another claim.  Some believe it, some
don't.  I disbelieve it, but feel free to believe it if you
wish to do so.

Again, as has been emphasized by other posters, a good
ground system (and of course there too there are differing
opinions on what constitutes a good grounding system) is the
most important aspect of lightning portection.

73
Bob AA0CY/3

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
[mailto:owner-towertalk@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Norman
Hockler
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 10:31 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] Lightning... and pointed rods!


If they dont work why are they still used?

Norm


At 08:13 PM 10/25/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Sorry, Norm, but the spline balls working that way (as they
>were originally touted) is just not true (please substitute
>a much stronger but politically incorrect term).  When I
was
>at PolyPhaser, we used to provide a video from two TV
>stations and the FAA in Tampa proving the incorrectness of
>these beliefs.  The one from the FAA (just before the
camera
>stopped running) clearly shows one of these "hedgehogs"
>being hit.  The FAA was interested in them (for obvious
>reasons) until the truth became obvious.  Then they were
>touted in another manner.
>
>The reason everybody thought that they worked as claimed is
>because usually the site had a poor grounding system (the
>grounding system is the "make or break" of any good
>protection system).  When the hedgehogs were installed, the
>grounding system was improved at that time.  Now lightning
>damage became minimal or non-existant.  Ergo, it must be
the
>hedgehog.
>
>73
>Bob AA0CY/3
>PolyPhaser Technical Consultant, 1994-1997
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
>[mailto:owner-towertalk@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Norman
>Hockler
>Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 12:01 AM
>To: towertalk@contesting.com
>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Lightning... and pointed rods!
>
>
>It helps to have many pointed rods on the top of the tower.
>Commercial
>towers use "spline balls" on the tower.  They are melon
>shaped metal ball
>with hundreds of sharp points.  These points help to
>dissipate the charge
>build up and therefore prevent the ground leader from going
>up to meet the
>cloud charge.   This is why a uhf/vhf antenna stack is less
>likely to be
>hit than a single vertical or a HF tribander.
>
>de Norm  N8NH
>
>
>At 09:52 PM 10/24/00 -0400, you wrote:
> >As long as we're on this subject, I notice all the
>lightning rods on
> >buildings have sharp points upwards...so... does it help
to
>have a pointed
> >rod at the top of the tower mast? If so, why?
> >Jerry K3MGT
> >
> >
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