[TowerTalk] Lightning Protection via gas tube devices

[Gene Smar]

Larry:

     I have the Polyphaser equivalents in-line with my coaxes on the tower. 
I have them all mounted inside a large steel Hoffman enclosure at the base 
of the tower.  The connectors emerge through the sides of the box and the 
PL-259s from my four coax runs connect there.  The box itself is grounded 
with a #2 solid tinned wire to the tower and thence to the ground field 
surrounding the tower itself.

     In addition, I have home-made ground connectors attached to the coax 
shield at the top and bottom of the tower.  You can read more about these 
connectors at 
http://lists.contesting.com/archives//html/Towertalk/2011-03/msg00337.html .

     One suggestion for the L-Com arrestors at the URL below:  the 
Polyphasers come with a rubber O-ring gasket that provides a bit of 
weatherproffing to the penetation through which the connectors protrude. 
These gaskets seem to be missing from the L-Com design.  I suggest these be 
installed where the arrestors emerge into open air, such as at the base of a 
tower.  The O-rings should be installed on the inside of the enclosure to 
protect them from sunlight and eventual hardening.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry Loen" <lwloen at gmail.com>
To: "Jim Lux" <jimlux at earthlink.net>
Cc: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 12:05 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Lightning Protection via gas tube devices


> Jim, that's helpful.  So, I can probably expect an insertion loss
> similar to other connectors,  I gather.
>
> Now, another question to the hive-mind.
>
> How many of you actually _deploy_ something like this?  If you do not,
> why not and what should I be doing instead?
>
>
>
> Larry Wo0Z
>
> On Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 6:07 AM, Jim Lux <jimlux at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> On 7/17/12 11:46 AM, Larry Loen wrote:
>>> On the subject of lightning protection, is this sort of thing:
>>> http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=21474  useful or advisable?
>>>
>>> Do I put one just at the base of the tower (and connect it to the
>>> tower ground system) or do I also have one next to the shack.
>>>
>>> I was looking into female-female SO239 type devices for use as the
>>> shack side ground for my coax (I'd have a connector box and then make
>>> sure the paired "SO239"s would then be grounded), but I wondered about
>>> this.
>>>
>>> The price isn't great, but what worries me more is the 0.4 dB
>>> insertion loss.  Or, is that at GHz frequencies only?
>>>
>>
>> most of the time, the loss is at higher frequencies, and is a worst case
>> guarantee.
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