Phil,
Do you live in the city or a more rural setting? If the closest neighbor's
house is 30 feet or less I wouldn't spend the extra money on a breaker box
surge protector, I'd just keep the cheap protectors on some of the more
valuable appliances and invest in UPSs for the computer(s). If you get a hit
on the AC line once in twenty years I'd be surprised. Notice I didn't say
the ham tower. For it there are grounding and lightning protectors
available, including some substantial ones.
On computers I'd recommend putting a UPS to give some power glitch
protection. An inexpensive computer-grade UPS isn't the best though for ham
radios, in that many computer UPSs put out a modified sine-wave in lieu of
the clean sine-wave power that Astron power supplies probably work best on.
Most radios won't be hurt by momentary drop in voltage, but computers may go
bonkers by an eye-blink on the AC line.
Lynn
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 7:31 PM
Subject: Breaker Box Surge Protectors


> I know Butch lived in the country so perhaps he'll have some input to this
> question.  I recently had to put in a whole new breaker box.  Well, I
> didn't, I paid to have it done.  I also had to have some new wiring
> installed in the kitchen.  Man, do we have a lot of electrical things
these
> days.  Give me battery power any day.  Well, the guy told me that I can
get
> a breaker box surge protector starting at 30 bucks up to over 200 dollars.
> Yes, I have these Micky Mouse surge protectors on all my computers and ham
> equipment but speaking as one who had a direct lightning strike on his
> antenna once upon a time and was three feet away from the coax switch when
> it flashed over to ground and went back outside to my 8 foot ground rod, I
> am a little nervous about these flimsy plastic surge protectors.  So, does
> anybody have an opinion about a breaker box surge protector?  I am
assuming
> this is a ham radio related question.
>
> Phil.
> K0NX
>
>
>
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