[TowerTalk] Porcupines and other wives tales

[Keith Dutson]

I think the timing and dynamics of a strike are not that well understood.
Little of what has been published is based on actual strike measurements but
rather on "triggered" strikes using rockets and long, thin wires.  The
theory of being able to dissipate massive charge fields using devices like
the porcupine has pretty well been shot down by several studies and
experiments.

In some cases it has been found that a strike causes extensive damage even
when the object being struck has been equipped with the best known strike
management systems (e.g. very low impedance ground).  These are sometimes
called mega-strikes and are fortunately few and far between.  The consensus
seems to be that a good ground system will handle the majority of hits with
little or no damage.

73, Keith NM5G

-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mark Beckwith
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 8:37 AM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Porcupines and other wives tales

> Well, if you are going to prevent a strike, you basically have to 
> bleed off all of the strike energy.  I don't think that is possible.

Actually wouldn't you you only have to bleed off enough energy so that your
tower is no longer the desired point of arc?  Sort of like running away from
a bear - you don't have to be the fastest person, you only have to avoid
being the slowest person.

Mark, N5OT 

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