[TowerTalk] Lightning GROUND switch wanted

[Pete Smith]

At 08:52 PM 8/31/00 -0400, Tom Rauch wrote:
...
>Copy the RCS-8, and it will greatly reduce any possibility of 
>currents flowing inside the cable to the rig. Of course it does 
>nothing for currents on the outside, for that you need to use a very 
>good ground or unscrew the cables and move them away from 
>everything else. 
>
>By the way, the relay in the RCS-8 is good for well over 6 kW into 
>50 ohms at HF. 

Tom makes an interesting point here.  Many of the remote antenna switches,
stack matches, etc. on the market use a relay (JW1FSN-DC12V, same part #
from several manufacturers, including NAIS) that is apparently good for
very high power, but is physically very small and encapsulated, and only
costs ~$2 each in small quantities.  It would seem that such a relay can't
offer the sort of protection from lightning that he describes, if only
because the physical spacing between contacts is very small.

So, the next question is, what relay does Ameritron use in the RCS-8?  Many
of us might be interested in homebrewing a grounding panel with them, if
the cost isn't too high.  Tom?

73, Pete Smith N4ZR

The World Contest Station Database 
is back up and running at
http://www.qsl.net/n4zr 



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