At 03:12 PM 8/12/2003 -0400, you wrote:
Grounding is not to attract lightning, but to take away the static charge
that accumulates on antenna, etc. It is the accumulated stateic charge that
actually attracts lightning.
Close enuff... It's a charge differential that attracts lightning.
The stepped leader builds the ionized channel for the initial visible
lightning discharges in approximately 150 foot steps. Think on that
a minute... if your tower is, say, 400 feet away from your shack, the
probability of a strike on a tower is more-or-less independent of one
on your house.
(That still doesn't deal with the bonding issue, because the ground
differential will be hellacious if you don't.)
Disconnect coaxes (I use a coax switch with a
disconnecting, grounded position for this purpose), but don't worry about
your ground attracting lightning.
I've never had to disconnect coaxes but if you do you want to cap your
connectors with shorting caps or use a grounding switch... I trust the
quality gas tubes I use more than I trust my memory to handle the
switch.
Use flat grounding braid for your grounds.
Woah, braid will explosively disintegrate during a strike. You wan't
strap.
Hope I don't get flamed too badly for this post. Cheers. Vern N2YZS
Hope I didn't disappoint. :-)
73,
Eric, KB0YDN
--
Eric F. Richards
efricha@dimensional.com
"The weird part is that I can feel productive even when I'm doomed."
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