[TowerTalk] Static, Lightening, and protection

[K3BU at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/23/04 9:38:26 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
kenneth.lowrey at wright.edu writes:
>>Does an 11 element 2 meter beam (horiz polarized, mounted 6-9 feet above a 
tribander help or hurt this "capacitor plate" theory?<<

The "rules" seem to be like this:
If you want to create "umbrella lightning repellent" protection situation, 
the tower should be as high as possible. Roughly it will protect hemisphere with 
radius of the tower. Avoid sharp single points at the top of the mast or long 
VHF antennas or verticals. Having large antenna with DC grounded elements 
(Yagi) will serve as a capacitor plate collecting charge from the area. Try to 
avoid long masts protruding further than the radius of your  - antenna 
"umbrella". Make sure the whole system has good ground connections all the way to the 
top.
That 2m beam would be part of the "umbrella" as long as there is no long 
(over 8 ft) mast or vertical sticking above it.

Otherwise, to attract lightning and "safely" take it to the ground, use all 
the classic recommendations for grounding, disconnecting, arresters, etc. 

As others reported here, "Yuri's theory" is not off the rocker but there is 
more evidence that it works. I sure like it better than trying to attract the 
lightning and "safely" conduct it to the ground. Lightning can be wild, but if 
there is evidence that there is something to it, it is worth trying to arrange 
things for it to work. Any more "votes" of anecdotal evidence for or con are 
appreciated.

Yuri, K3BU.us