[TowerTalk] 2nd Story Station Installation

[Tom Rauch]

> of his house.  He is in great need of information for this
station.  Any
> ideas regarding coax entry into the house, RF Grounding,
and Lightning
> Protection is appreciated.  There is not alot of
literature out on
> second story installations.  He plans either a 80 meter
Loop Skywire or
> longwire for his antenna.  Any help will be passed on to
him.  Thanks
> for the creative ideas.

For good lightning protection, all feedlines lightning
bypassing and the station ground must be common with the
utility ground at the service entrance of the house. That
requires some wide smooth flashing if it is any reasonable
distance, like maybe 20-30 feet.

For second story installation the only safe way to ground is
to bring the feedlines to the service entrance ground, and
bypass for lightning there. Otherwise you could always
disconnect and throw the feedline out away from the house
when not using it.

For RFI, a longwire could be an absolute nightmare in a
second story installation. There are times, with low power
and a good combination of grounding and antenna length, you
get away with it. But as a general rule a longwire is a bad
idea from a second floor shack. They are bad enough at
ground level.

I'd go with an antenna that does not tend to excite the
equipment with RF, like a dipole or loop with a proper feed
system.

73 Tom