[TowerTalk] Lighting

[jeff millar]

While visiting Chuck, WA1EKV and looking at his 100 Ft tower on a hill 
with a comb of sharp points on top and 3 large ground leads at the 
bottom, he told me that he once heard hissing from the top of the tower 
during a time of dark clouds. He then measured the current in one of the 
ground lines with a clip-on DC ammeter and found 100 Amps....implying a 
sustained 300 Amps total bleeding from the cloud to ground.

I don't know if thats enough to bleed off the charge and prevent a 
strike. It's just an anecdotal data point.

jeff, wa1hco

Keith Dutson wrote:

>>My "gradually and constantly bleeding off the charge" scenario takes place
>>    
>>
>before that, before the storm arrives.
>
>I don't get it.  Exactly what is bleeding off before the storm arrives?
>
>Keith
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
>[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jerry Keller
>Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 10:25 PM
>To: Tom Rauch
>Cc: (Reflector) TowerTalk; ke3q at msn.com
>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Lighting
>
>OK, one more try!  Your example describes the cloud as already over the
>tower. My "gradually and constantly bleeding off the charge" scenario takes
>place before that, before the storm arrives. In my scenario, the tower area
>rarely gets enough charge built up to be attractive. When the stormcloud
>arrives, the area around the tower is already "discharged", maybe even to a
>greater degree than other surrounding areas, so it looks less attractive to
>the charge in the cloud. That's what I call a sort of "prevention", but it's
>really just making the tower a less likely target.  
><snip>
>
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