[TowerTalk] Antenna to Shack Ground Connection

[Patrick Greenlee]

The old rule of thumb for lightning protection from over head 
dissipation devices (high metal roofs, lightning rods, grounded towers, 
etc. is a 30 degree cone angle.  This is NOT a guarantee but a 
tendency.  I think more is better and would not find fault with a ground 
wire a ways above coax or control leads but would encourage ground rods 
along the way so as to not encourage a great deal of coupling between 
lightning generated ground wire and "other" conductors below it.

Patrick  NJ5G  (now stand by for a total debunking of my comments...)


On 1/28/2015 12:30 PM, David Gilbert wrote:
>
> I don't have the expertise to be sure about it, but it always seemed 
> to me that it would be best to run the ground wire (grounded at both 
> ends and maybe a few places in between) in the same trench as the coax 
> ... but some distance above them ... in order to provide a sort of 
> shielding effect for the coax against induced currents from nearby 
> lighting bursts.  I was once told that the electric utilities run a 
> ground line at the top of utility poles above the actual power lines 
> for a similar purpose.
>
> Possibly induced currents in the ground wire would still couple to the 
> coax anyway, but I certainly don't see how running the ground wire 
> with the coax would be any worse than running them separately.
>
> 73,
> Dave   AB7E
>
>
>
> On 1/28/2015 8:43 AM, Cox, Norman R. wrote:
>> Dear Group:
>>
>>      I am now ready to connect the tower grounding rod network to  
>> the shack grounding system.  The crank-up tower is about 30 feet from 
>> the shack.  Is it preferable to run the ground connection between the 
>> two along with signal cables?  Or is it better to run the grounding 
>> connection not so close to the signal cables?  I've seen people do it 
>> both ways, and can see a possible benefit either way, but a lightning 
>> strike could throw either idea out the window.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Norm
>> KE0ZT
>>
>>
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