[TowerTalk] lightning frequency and towers

[Kevin Hemsley]

There is a very interesting short paper on this site that is directly related to the recent lightning thread: "Towers, Lightning and Human Affairs". Here is a quote from the abstract which is discussing "ham radio towers, water towers, microwave repeater and VHF communication towers": 

". . .such towers increase the incidence of lightning at the tower location and the probability of lightning to a tower increases as the square of the tower height."

Although the paper leaves many unanswered questions, and is primarily intended to warn about the dangers of placing towers in close proximity to people, this paper does seem to dispel some of the home-spun "theories" about lightning and towers with respect to a tower's ability to dissipate charges and thereby reduce the probability that the tower will take a strike.

http://www.lightningstorm.com/resources/library/lightn1.pdf

Thanks, 
                Kevin.
------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Hemsley
Systems Engineer
Microserv Computer Technologies, Inc.
kev at ida.net
NF7J


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jim Lux 
  To: Towertalk 
  Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 8:01 AM
  Subject: [TowerTalk] lightning frequency and towers


  If someone were interested, you might be able to find someone at Vaisala
  (who run the National Lightning Detection Network) who could take the
  database of strike locations and match it up against the FCC antenna
  database and see if there is any correlation (or lack).

  The dataset extends back to the late 80's, and has locations within a few
  hundred meters for each flash detected in most of the US

  Try http://www.lightningstorm.com/

  Folks with a research connection might be able to get free access to the
  database through NASA/Goddard SFC or NWS.

  http://www.lightningstorm.com/tux/jsp/guide/products/data/archive/index.jsp

  Good summer project for a student.

  _______________________________________________

  See: http://www.mscomputer.com  for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.

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