Something not to forget concerning lightning strikes is the tripod on your
roof upon which the antenna may be mounted, the cable to your rotator which
is on the tower, if you have one, and other related control cables such as
from your remote coax switch. If these are not likewise grounded, and I
have a friend who knows this from personal experience after grounding
everything, the lightning arched over from a direct antenna strike and came
down his rotator cable. somebody some place should be making something to
which all the 4 or 8 conductor wires are switched to, or through, a
grounding switch or something but I am not aware of one.
Phil.
[log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 10:35 PM
Subject: Re: Lightning Arresters
> Hi
> Personally, I look at lightening strike protectors a lot like life =
> preservers. One hopes they never need them but if you do, one sure feels =
> like they are better than nothing.=20
>
> God bless,
> Mark
> -- Currently in Pendleton, Eastern Oregon Regional At Pendleton, Oregon =
> Partly Cloudy, 61.0=B0F Wind:W-280=B0 at 13mph=20
> ----- Original Message -----=20
> From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 7:41 PM
> Subject: Re: Lightning Arresters
>
>
> the glass jar theory never did make sense to me but I"ve heard it. fact =
> is,=20
> disconnecting is the only protection and getting the coax outside, =
> lightning=20
> arresters won't protect the shield side of the coax and there is no 100% =
>
> protection from a direct hit.
> I took a hit similar to yours once, very scary. Only damage was a =
> destroyed=20
> antenna switch, home made so I fixed it, and a hole in the coax, =
> outside.=20
> The antenna worked but never near as well after that so I just replaced=20
> everything, coax, antenna, and rebuilt the switch.
> ----- Original Message -----=20
> From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 10:11 PM
> Subject: Re: Lightning Arresters
>
>
>> My brother in law back in Iowa a few years ago, put his disconnected =
> coax
>> ends into a large glass jar. When a tornado passed by about two =
> blocks=20
>> from
>> his house, on the ground, he took a direct lightning strike to his 2 =
> meter
>> FM beam at about 50 feet. The generated electrical envelope build up =
> in=20
>> the
>> room popped a diode in his power supply of one of his radios. =
> Everything
>> was unplugged from the wall and disconnected from the antennas, as I =
> said.
>> His shack was in the basement and the coast came in the basement =
> window=20
>> and
>> over the heat ducting at that point. The lightning had no place to go =
> and
>> literally arced through the RG8 to the duct work, found a ground =
> outlet in
>> his furnace and he had to repair the furnace. The best workable =
> situation
>> is building an outdoor panel made of SO239 female connectors, =
> lightning
>> arrest those connectors to ground before connecting them to the panel, =
>
>> then
>> screwing all your antennas to that. Even then, having a coax switch=20
>> inside
>> that switches all antennas to ground, once you have disconnected the =
> feed
>> coax to the radio or tuner or match box, which then goes out to a =
> ground=20
>> rod
>> is a lot safer. Who am I to talk. I took a direct lightening strike =
> once
>> and I was three feet away from the coax switch when it flashed over. =
> I=20
>> had
>> two sighted witnesses in the room who saw it, too. My ears rang for =
> an=20
>> hour
>> afterward.
>>
>> Phil.
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----=20
>> From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 7:46 PM
>> Subject: Re: Lightning Arresters
>>
>>
>>>a sharp bend in the coax will help too. Doesn't have to be real sharp, =
> but
>>> about as sharp as you can make around 90 degrees for each type of =
> coax.
>>> ----- Original Message -----=20
>>> From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 3:14 PM
>>> Subject: Re: Lightning Arresters
>>>
>>>
>>>> An old broadcast chief engineer told me once to make several turns =
> of=20
>>>> the
>>>> coax in a large three foot loop before putting the coax into the
>>>> building.
>>>> It creates a inductor which will theoretically arc the lightning =
> strike
>>>> off
>>>> to ground before entering the building due to the resistance.
>>>>
>>>> Phil.
>>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----=20
>>>> From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 12:58 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: Lightning Arresters
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>A lightning arrester for inside the building? not good at all in my=20
>>>>>book,
>>>>> you don't want lightning anywhere near the inside of the building.
>>>>> ----- Original Message -----=20
>>>>> From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>> Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 2:48 PM
>>>>> Subject: Lightning Arresters
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>I was asking about lightning arresters based up what I have tried. =
> I
>>>>>>once
>>>>>> tried an in-line arrester but discovered, on my R7 multiple band
>>>>>> vertical,
>>>>>> it lowered the SWR by about 40 KHz. I couldn't believe it so I =
> tried
>>>>>> testing it in and out and sure enough, it did change frequencies. =
> No,
>>>>>> I
>>>>>> can't remember the model and make of it. I have, for several =
> years,
>>>>>> been
>>>>>> using the Alpha Delta gas tube arc-tube coax switch arrester. =
> They
>>>>>> make
>>>>>> them for HF and for VHF-UHF operations but they ain't cheap. They =
> are
>>>>>> really rugged and strong and they make one to mount on a wall, =
> desk,=20
>>>>>> or
>>>>>> whatever, but they also make one with rubber feet for desk top =
> usage.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Phil.
>>>>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>>>
>
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