[ADXA] Antennas & lightning

[Dennis Schaefer]

I’m certainly not an expert on this, but I’ve arrived at a method that
suits me.

When storms threaten or I’m going to be gone a long time, I unhook all
antennas and unplug from AC power.  I have two remote antenna switches, and
all are grounded at the tower when not in use.  In the shack, I have a
switch that sends RF to either of the remote switches or other antennas.  I
unscrew the connector from that switch, and then everything is grounded at
the tower and disconnected in the house.

My computer to router connection is wireless.  I don’t disconnect any USB
ports, etc.  Rotator lines are the weak point, with no protection or
disconnection.

Everything except AC enters the shack at a common bulkhead.  This aluminum
plate is well grounded, with several ground rods under it.  The tower is
reasonably well grounded, with several ground rods at the base, and a ring
system around the building it is mounted to.  The entry panel to the shack
is bonded to the tower ground and the AC entry ground.  All rotator cables,
control cables, and feedlines run underground from the tower to the shack.

This is definitely not up to Motorola standards, but I have never had a
problem except possibly one blown USB port years ago.

Everyone has an opinion on this and there is some legitimacy to a lot of
it.  W8JI says he doesn’t disconnect anything and has no Polyphasers.  He
does have a honkin’ good ground system, though.  The local Motorola dealer
was a friend, and he said two things kept him from having problems - a good
ground system, and tying a knot in all line cords.  He said he had seen
multiple instances of the line cord being blown apart at the knot with no
further damage.  He was in the 2-way business for decades with lots of
money on the line, so who am I to argue with him?  (No, I don’t tie knots
in line cords, but maybe I should)

73,
Dennis/RZ

On Sun, Jul 13, 2025 at 9:58 AM Jussi Eloranta <eloranta at aa6kj.hopto.org>
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> The weather has been pretty rough at least here in the NE corner.
> Lightning on and off on almost all days. I have been running back and forth
> between the house and the shack disconnecting and reconnecting antennas &
> power. The weather forecasts have been pretty useless with these storms.
> They appear quickly and are gone quickly.
>
> My question is as follows. With proper grounding and polyphasers on coaxes
> (+ surge protectors on power), do you guys disconnect antennas & power
> during storms? In CA lightning is rather rare and this was not an issue
> over there. I feel that here I have the radios disconnected most of the
> time! And my K4 died mysteriously during a recent storm with only the
> ground connected. It is possible that lightning can get in through the
> ground too... Fortunately Elecraft was pretty quick to fix it.
>
> Jussi (aa6kj)
>
> PS. I am headed to Finland to attend the annual SRAL summer meeting.
> Hopefully the weather is calmer there... Great to see some old friends over
> there.
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