[Antennas] static discharge from antenna

[Cletus W Whitaker]

de WB2CPN South Central Pennsylvania     2002.10.09

You may want to inspect the tuner to see if there is any way to ground the
center tap of the coil(s) which connect to the ladder line.  What kind of tuner
are you using?  I must assume it has a balanced output to the ladder line.  There
should be a DC path from the ladder line to a good ground, but hardly any
inductance at all will cause a voltage build up on the ladder line when the
antenna receives a charge from space.  You can put a small arc gap between the
wires of the ladder line and a good ground.  Overall, it's dangerous.  I've used
a similiar antenna 180' long and 20' high, and I haven't had static build up.  But
I am feeding the ladder line with a 1:1 balun which has a grounded center tap.
You coud try a current balun between the tuner and the ladder line if the tuner
will handle an unbalanced output.   Good Luck                 73  Clete