[TowerTalk] Lightning Protection of rotors/remote switches etc

[john at kk9a.com]

I too have replaced many many potentiometers, hash filters and a few motors 
on TIC ring rotators after lightning strikes.  Is there a way to protect 
them?  Do MOVs protect the motors?

John KK9A


To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Lightning Protection of rotors/remote switches etc
From: Steve London
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:10:49 -0600


I'm sure that others will disagree, but in my experience, protecting 
rotators
and remote switches on towers is often a losing cause. On the positive side, 
I
have never had a CDE/HyGain T2X/Tailtwister damaged by lightning. On the
negative side, I have had plenty of Bourns multi-turn potentiometers (used 
as
direction indicators for Ring Rotors and other commercial rotators) fried by
lightning. MOV's at the rotator housing have no effect with direct, or very
close hits. It doesn't take much to burn through the #36 wire used to wind
those
pots !  Similarly, it doesn't take much of a surge to punch a hole through 
the
1N4001's used in remote antenna switches.

YMMV.

73,
Steve, N2IC