Keith... I beg to differ. There's two things I think just about everyone
agrees on:
(1) the wisdom of proper grounding systems to handle a strike when one
occurs.... and....
(2) a strike cannot (yet) be absolutely prevented.... that is, the risk of a
strike cannot be reduced to zero.
The claims for spiderballs and similar pointy things at the top of towers
address reducing the risk of a strike, not preventing one.
73, Jerry K3BZ
.
----- Original Message -----
From: Keith Dutson
To: TowerTalk
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 9:19 AM
Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] spider balls.. they work
Your subject line says "they work" but you do not describe the claim of what
they are supposed to do. This is highly misleading. Most of the posts on
this thread have referred to advertising that claims these devices can be
employed to prevent lightning strikes. What are you claiming?
Keith
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Norman Hockler
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 1:14 AM
To: TowerTalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] spider balls.. they work
Ok, here is what I have observed.
In the 40's as a teenager I was crew on a wooden 100 ft sailing ship every
summer for 8 years.
We saw St. Elmos fire all the time. It would shoot out from the spar ends
and screw or bolt ends.
About the 3rd or 4th year the owner bought some spider balls ( they were
called spline balls.) and they were installed on the mast head of the fore
and main masts.
The result was most of the St Elmo fire was dissipated by them and very
little could be observed from the spar ends.
Would this result in lowering the likely hood of a lightning strike on my
tower...... who knows.... but it did move most of the discharges to the
"sharp pointy spline balls"
Norm Hockler
N8NH
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|