[TowerTalk] Lightning

[Gary Schafer]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:towertalk-
> bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim Lux
> Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 11:44 PM
> To: Roger Kissel; towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Lightning
> 
> At 07:45 PM 1/3/2007, Roger Kissel wrote:
> >Hi Again
> >
> >With talk about lightning protection, I recall seeing a site showing
> >a static dissipator that looked like a fuzzy ball, placed atop the
> >tower. It supposedly dissipates the corona charge on the tower so
> >the lightning doesn't strike the tower.  I kinda shrugged and passed
> >on from it.  I found it while I was surfing for Rohn 45.
> >
> >It consisted of a brush made out of about 200 (says them) stainless
> >steel wires, crimped into a holder, each bent so that the resultant
> >product looked kinda like a 'feather-duster'.
> >
> >Does anybody know what this product is called ?
> 
> A waste of money?
> 
> Lots of research on "static dissipators", "Lightning Eliminators",
> "porcupines", etc. in respected peer reviewed journals, and the
> upshot is they don't work and there's no physics that says it should
> work in the first place.
> http://home.earthlink.net/~w6rmk/lightning.htm has links to the papers,
> etc.
> 
> However, lots of hype from mfrs and anecdotes that claim they
> work.  (I particularly like the one where they claim "As sold to
> NASA".. true enough, NASA bought one to test it, and it failed
> miserably.  There's a cool picture of a lightning strike hitting
> right in the middle of the dissipator.)
> 
> Jim, W6RMK

They also sold a couple to the FAA for testing. I have a video tape of the
device exploding and spreading shrapnel everywhere as it took a direct
strike.

73
Gary  K4FMX