Jim,
Nice tip on the K3 Ant 2. Hadn't thought of that.
Tnx
N2TK, Tony
-----Original Message-----
From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim
Brown
Sent: Friday, October 30, 2015 12:40 PM
To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Remote station antenna disconnection methods?
On Thu,10/29/2015 12:02 PM, K5WA wrote:
> Has anyone got a solution that they've used successfully at a frequent
> lightning remote site?
This discussion came up this week on the Topband reflector. Study what W8JI
has to say on the topic. Also study my material on bonding and grounding. He
and I are in complete agreement -- bonding is far more important than
grounding (and both are important).
Here's my take on it. http://k9yc.com/GroundingAndAudio.pdf
Understand these fundamental concepts.
1) EVERYTHING in a premises must be bonded together. Separate grounds not
bonded to others are a CAUSE of lightning damage. The principle is to allow
everything in the premises to rise to the same (high) potential at the time
of the strike.
2) NEVER use shunt mode surge protectors on branch circuits. They are a
CAUSE of lightning damage. As an alternative, use either a "whole house"
protector at the service entrance, and/or SurgeX series mode protectors on
branch circuits.
3) All antennas should be coax-fed, with shields bonded at a common entry
point, with that point bonded to all premises grounds. That puts the shield
at ground potential. Use an feed-through arrestor on each coax to short the
center conductor to the shield. This limits the voltage at the RX input.
4) Carefully bond together the chassis of every piece of gear on your
operating desk using short, fat copper. Bond from chassis to chassis in
parallel with any audio and control cables running between them. This
prevents a strike from exciting Pin One Problems, which would otherwise
likely cause damage. Virtually ALL ham gear has Pin One Problems on audio
and control connectors, including Elecraft rigs.
Here's an K3-specific trick that K6XX told me about. Use Ant2 for all bands,
with antenna switching external to the radio. When you shut down the K3 (by
turning them off, NOT by killing power), it will connect Ant1 to the radio,
to which nothing is connected.
73, Jim K9YC
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