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[TowerTalk] Tower grounds near Underground Utilities?

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Subject: [TowerTalk] Tower grounds near Underground Utilities?
From: jlangdon@outer.net (John Langdon)
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 08:42:41 -0600
Conventional wisdom (ala Polyphaser) is that two points must be separated 
by 75' or more to be considered really separate for lightning prevention. 
 As a practical matter, that may be overkill.  I am betting that there is a 
standard set by the gas utility for separation between its lines and any 
other utility lines and I would go with that distance or greater.

Anecdotally, I have a neighbor whose freestanding stone mailbox was struck 
during one of our spring thunderstorms.  The mailbox exploded into many 
stones, and the strike jumped on to an underground sprinkler box which was 
about 12 feet from the mailbox.  The current went thorough the sprinkler 
control lines to the garage, where it jumped across the sprinkler 
controller to the AC and took out the stereo, intercom, VCR, etc. .  The 
sprinkler controller exploded and started a fire in the garage.

GL and 73,  John N5CQ

-----Original Message-----

.....What I originally wanted to know was how close to the Tower's
base and grounding rods I could have the electrical and gas
mains to the house without a lightning strike jumping from the
rods through the ground to the wiring and piping.

In other words, how much ground is necessary around a ground
rod to safely dissapate a lightning strike? If someone knows the
answer, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

Thanks
Jonathan KO6XS


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