[TowerTalk] Grounding

[john at kk9a.com]

This is all good advice. For many of us lightning protection is a work  
in progress but at least get the basics installed ASAP.  If you have  
big towers they will get hit.  Stikes vary in intensity and can have  
some interesting effects as noted in Bob's post. Give it the best path  
to ground that you can afford. Be careful where your disconnects are,  
I noticed burn marks on the wood near the protection/disconnect area  
inside my previous home in Illinois when I disassembled the station.   
I now keep all of that stuff outside in a huge Hoffman enclosure.

73,
John KK9A




Bob Shohet, KQ2M wrote

Stop a direct hit?   No!

Make your appliance less likely to be damaged or destroyed?   Yes!

There are no protection absolutes when it comes to lightning strikes.   
All you can hope to do is make your valuables less inviting of a  
target relative to other potential targets, and provide the shortest  
low resistance paths to ground in an attempt to help divide up and  
“control” the effects of that strike.

I too make sure to disconnect EVERYTHING in my shack when not in use  
during the lightning months as well as when it appears that a T-storm  
is on the way.  Grounding alone is not enough at this qth.  You must  
disconnect everything INSIDE.  That is no guaranty either but it does  
afford an additional level of protection, the vast majority of the time.

I have had EMP’s from strikes on my towers that have been so powerful  
that they have lit up my TV’s even though we had lost electrical  
power, and 18 years ago actually caused a battery operated doll of my  
daughter’s to start walking and talking!  I have also lost a few  
circuit boards inside one of my FT 1000MP’s and a 2 meter radio in  
that same storm.  Nothing was attached to either of those radios at  
the time.

I have also had lightning come into the house through the phone lines,  
cable lines and the well.  One strike on my tower two years ago (when  
everything was disconnected!) actually induced a big ZAPPP! in my the  
radiator in the kitchen – and a nasty arc between the radiator and the  
wall that gave off a burning smell.    In the 21 years that I have had  
my two towers up, and taken probably 10 or so direct and indirect  
hits, that had not happened before or since.  We are still not quite  
sure how that happened since nothing else was affected.

Use all the lightning protection that you can and disconnect  
everything when not in use!

73

Bob KQ2M