[TowerTalk] Lightning protection

Pete Smith N4ZR n4zr at contesting.com
Mon Jul 8 08:28:00 EDT 2013


My answeris simple - It is not cost-effective. They are using extensive 
lightning grounding at the tower base, and purpose-built transmitter 
buildings with elaborate grounding systems. 24/7/365 costs.

Compare that to my shack on the second floor of a 170-year-old house 
with uncertain in-the-wall wiring quality, a long lead to earth ground, 
and above-ground power, phone and cable Internet. I've tried - with a 
single point ground at my entry panel, copper-tubing ground buses and 
very short and heavy ground leads to each piece of equipment, but if you 
ask me whether a direct strike while connected would result in <5 volts 
difference in the potential of the various interconnected chassis... 
well, I'd rather not have Ma Nature ask the question.

73, Pete N4ZR
Check out the Reverse Beacon Network at
http://reversebeacon.net,
blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com.
For spots, please go to your favorite
ARC V6 or VE7CC DX cluster node.

On 7/8/2013 8:06 AM, Jim Thomson wrote:
> Ok, I’ll bite.   What do AM /FM /TV broadcast folks do or use for lightning protection ??
> Esp with real high towers involved in some cases.   They don’t shut things off and toss cables
> out the window.   And ditto with cell sites and microwave sites.   They are all left on 24-7-365.
>
> IE: what do the big boys use ?   Why not copy their procedures ?
>
> Jim   VE7RF
>
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