[TowerTalk] Lightning Protection Question

[Jim Brown]

On Sat, 11 Sep 2010 21:28:55 -0400, Gene Smar wrote:

>You overlooked my caveat in my original e-mail:  I have a remote 
>> switch
>> in the NEMA box at the base of my tower.  Had I installed the Polyphasers 
>> at
>> the shack end, only one coax run (between the shack and switch) would have
>> been protected; the switch and antennaa coax runs into it would have been
>> vulnerable to lightning damage.  I installed the Polyphasers in the box on
>> the tower so as to provide protection for the switch and all three coax
>> lines going into the switch.

Gene,

I didn't misread or overlook it at all. The function of an arrestor is to 
protect sensitive (and expensive) electronics from a strike. ALL IT DOES IS 
SHORT THE COAX. That remote switch is neither sensitive nor expensive. 
Although, as K8RI noted, it's easy to do that with the switch, the coax isn't 
connected to the shack, so it doesn't matter. So I'm sticking with my (and 
K1TTT's) advice. Arrestors go as close as practical to the sensitive 
electronics that they protect. Anywhere else is a waste of money.

73, Jim K9YC