[TowerTalk] House Entry

[Tom Rauch]

> basement which connects to two ground rods outside.  The copper strap
> connecting to the ground rods touches the wood frame of my house as it
> goes through the wall.  The strike discolored my mast, damaged all
> five ring rotors, burned up all of my Polyphasers, but did not show
> any burning where it touched the wood. 

I've never seen a case where a somewhat properly grounded strap 
or plate mounted to wood caused a problem.

I have seen many cases where above ground-level feeders, guy 
wires attached to houses, towers bracketed to houses, or control 
cables entering the house and suspended above ground from the 
tower to the house have actually scorched wood or started fires.

The worse thing in the world you can do is run the lines off the 
tower some height above ground, and bring them above ground all 
the way into the house. All feedline entrance grounds should be 
connected to the power line and telephone line ground with a short, 
wide, copper flashing connection.

There were several lightning related house fires in Atlanta because 
a TV dish installer was not following these rules! The "improper 
wiring" made the evening news.





73, Tom W8JI
W8JI@contesting.com 

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