[TowerTalk] lightning protection at towers and bunkers on former AT&T microwave relay sites

[Wes Attaway (N5WA)]

I can attest that proper grounding and bonding does work.  A number of years
ago I had a nice tower with 20M and 40M beams on it and also had a 2M/6M
vertical at the very top of the mast.  The tower was between my house and
the driveway and I remember several occasions when I would notice pieces of
fiberglass on the driveway.  

At the time I didn't give it too much thought but one day I was looking up
at the top of the mast and realized that the vertical was a lot shorter than
I had remembered it being.  Needless to say, lightning was hitting it and
slowly but surely chipping it away.  

During the entire period, no matter what kind of lightning storms we were
experiencing, I never once had any sign of a problem inside the shack.  I
never really had a radio for 6M so I didn't know that band had been
impaired, but the 2M radio was still hearing signals so I guess there was
enough of the 2M vertical left to enable me to use the local repeaters.

I was using the ICE lightning arrestors along with good bonding and the
overall protection scheme worked like as a charm.

   -------------------
Wes Attaway (N5WA)
(318) 393-3289 - Shreveport, LA
Computer/Cellphone Forensics
AttawayForensics.com
   -------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of n4zkf
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2017 6:33 AM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] lightning protection at towers and bunkers on
former AT&T microwave relay sites

David is correct. We bought all those towers several years ago. There are
only a handful in the country of the long-lines still in use. But they did
not work. Ground ring and bonding does. I took a direct hit on a vertical
while talking on the radio last year. My neighbors found pieces all over
the block of the antenna but the radio still works till this day. The
local hams now believe me when it comes to grounding.


73 Dave n4zkf
CC-Cluster node: 145.07 Mhz. or telnet://ccc.n4zkf.com:7373
N4ZKF/R 147.375 Mhz. Tone 103.5






On 5/18/17, 6:29 AM, "TowerTalk on behalf of David Robbins"
<towertalk-bounces at contesting.com on behalf of k1ttt at verizon.net> wrote:

>Those lightning porcupine things have been totally debunked, they do not
>do
>what is claimed and are not a substitute for proper grounding and bonding
>which is the real lightning protection for your equipment!
>
>David Robbins K1TTT
>e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
>web: http://wiki.k1ttt.net
>AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://k1ttt.net:7373
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
>john at kk9a.com
>Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2017 02:04
>To: towertalk at contesting.com
>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] lightning protection at towers and bunkers on
>former AT&T microwave relay sites
>
>I would not rely on this system to protect my station.
>
>John KK9A
>
>
>To:	"towertalk at contesting.com"
>Subject:	Re: [TowerTalk] lightning protection at towers and bunkers
>on former AT&T microwave relay sites
>From:	Bob Matthews kt3rr
>Date:	Thu, 18 May 2017 00:10:17 +0000 (UTC)
>
>Not from AT&T but worth watching. Lightning Protection Systems.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYILAHIx2lk
>
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