[TowerTalk] How far from the house?

[Roger K8RI on Tower]

I have two towers, One http://www.rogerhalstead.com/ham_files/tower.htm is 
about 10' from the corner of the garage.  My Cat-5e gigabit network cable 
runs within 10' of the tower base.  The second tower which is on the west 
end of the shop is mounted right up against the end of the roof overhang.

Prior to the big tower I had a 90' that was about 30 feet south of the 
current large tower and only a few feet from the back wall of the garage and 
about 10' north of the NW corner of a bedroom..

I did have some damage from a direct hit on the old tower that blew the 7/8" 
Heliax to the Midland repeater and took out the front end of a 2-meter rig 
in the shack.

The big tower takes about three direct hits a summer and so far it's done 
right well.   OTOH I have something like 600 feet of bare #2 copper burried 
with about 32 8' ground rods cad welded into the network.  I've really 
forgotten just how many ground rods are in the system.

Ron may say to put the tower out at least 25 feet, but I seriously doubt 
it'd make much difference.  I was sitting here operating last summer when 
the tower took a direct hit.  The only thing that happened was the network 
reset which only took 2 or 3 seconds.  There are 4 state-of-the-art (or at 
least they were) computers on the network. None missed a beat.

I think a good ground system and a good common point ground are essential. 
Beyond that I don't think it makes much difference where you place the 
tower.

Roger Halstead (K8RI and ARRL 40 year Life Member)
N833R - World's oldest Debonair CD-2
www.rogerhalstead.com


> My attention has just been drawn to the articles by Ron Block KB2UYT in
> QST June - August 2002 in which he says that the tower should be at
> least 25ft from the house to reduce magnetic coupling between the tower
> and the house wiring in the case of a lightning strike.
>
> Is this good advice? Would it be disastrous to locate the tower only,
> say, 10ft from the house?
>
> Alan NV8A
> _______________________________________________
>
> 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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