[TowerTalk] Station grounding in a steel enclosure?

[Richard Thorne]

Jim,

The tower is out in the middle of the country and he does not have a 
traditional shack.  The steel valve box is the shack/equipment  room, 
which happens to be made out of steel, that he's trying to use to his 
advantage.

Trent won't be there to unplug cables like I/we can when a thunderstorm 
approaches.  He's attempting to come up with the best possible lightning 
protection that he can in his situation.

Rich - N5ZC



On 8/28/2016 2:24 AM, Jim Brown wrote:
> Trent,
>
> Your first problem is that your box is NOT a shield if cables come 
> through openings in the box without their shield being bonded to the 
> box at the point where they enter. You must also bond or bypass (with 
> feedthrough caps) all other leads coming into the enclosure, like 
> power, control lines, audio lines, keying lines, etc. Any one of these 
> lines that does not have its shield bonded to the enclosure or come 
> through the enclosure via a feedthrough capacitor destroys the shielding.
>
> As to where to put the Polyphasers -- I would use the "feed through" 
> type and bond them to the enclosure.
>
> The larger question is why you need a Faraday cage in the first place. 
> Few stations do. What most stations need is proper BONDING, proper 
> grounding, proper power, and proper interconnections between 
> equipment. Study http://k9yc.com/GroundingAndAudio.pdf
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
> For On Sat,8/27/2016 10:28 PM, trentkd5ia--- via TowerTalk wrote:
>> My remote station is approaching completion.  A 70' tower, wireless 
>> internet, solar power and RemoteRig with a TS480 is all operational.  
>> Still in progress are the antennas to be mounted, and lightning 
>> protection.  I have a question about grounding.  The electronics are 
>> housed in a valve box--a galvanized steel cylinder 5 feet in diameter 
>> and 4 feet tall, with 3 1/2 feet of that in the ground.  A removable 
>> steel lid covers it.  All cables are in PVC pipe and enter the 
>> housing under ground level, and the valve box is 12 feet from the 
>> base of the tower.
>>
>> The grounding system will consist of 9 ground rods, 3 connected to 
>> each leg of the tower and extending out from the tower.  The valve 
>> box will also be connected to the grounding system. Polyphasers will 
>> protect against surges.
>>
>> My question is, can I install the surge protectors inside the steel 
>> housing, or should they be mounted outside the valve box? I'm 
>> thinking that the steel cylinder possibly acts as a Faraday cage, and 
>> the grounding connection and surge protection should be attached on 
>> the outside wall of the housing.  Any comments or suggestions, please?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Trent K5XM   on the windy and lightning prone West Texas plains
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> TowerTalk mailing list
>> TowerTalk at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>