[TowerTalk] Ham Radio Tower & Lightening

[Gary Schafer]

Having a mast, or anything else, grounded or not grounded has very little to
do with the chances of it being struck by lightning. As a matter of fact a
grounded mast may be slightly more prone to taking a strike.

A grounded or non grounded object has nothing to do with attracting
lightning to a particular area.

As an example a well grounded mast on a sailboat is better than not
grounding it at all. If it does take a lightning strike, the grounded mast
will funnel the energy to ground rather than letting the lightning energy
find its own path to ground through things that may get damaged,
electronics, hull etc.

Regards
Gary  K4FMX

> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:towertalk-
> bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Dennis OConnor
> Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 6:26 AM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Ham Radio Tower & Lightening
> 
> Sailboat masts attract lightning for various reasons, among them is that
> the mast is not properly bonded to the earth and so builds a static charge
> that makes it a target...  A bit of web searching will find you thousands
> of reports of boat strikes...
> 
> Your neighbors tower has nothing to do with your local lightning hits as
> that tower is grounded to the earth, whereas the boats and houses you cite
> as damaged were not properly grounded...  You need to make your own boat
> and your home properly grounded... This is not your neighbors problem or
> his responsibility...
> 
> Good luck,
> 
> denny
> 
> 
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