[TowerTalk] Recommended Coaxial Surge Protector for HF

[Doug Rehman]

The common coaxial surge protectors use gas cartridges for protection. It
takes hundreds of volts to cause the gas cartridge to fire and conduct to
ground (off the top of my head, I think it is around 600V). The ICE
protectors are designed with a DC path to ground so that there is no static
build up; the PolyPhasers do not have a DC path to ground, so static can
build up until either the gas cartridge fires or something downstream arcs
over. The gas cartridges have a finite life so the fewer times they arc
over, the longer they last.

I use ICE protectors on antennas that are not DC grounded themselves. On
antennas that are DC grounded, I have a mix of ICE and PolyPhasers.

Doug
K4AC