[Antennas] Lightning Protectors

Sat, 22 Nov 2003 19:32:11 -0800

Jim,

I just took a tour of KFI AM 640  50 Thousand watts.  of pure
power.... and they have a spark gap type protection for the
transmitter. The most curious thing was, they have a single loop on
the feed line just before the spark gap. The claim was that the
lightnig will jump the gap before it takes the loop! Somthing about
electricty not wanting to make the turn on the feed line, and
prefering to jump a small gap to ground.
It seems to work for them.  they claim there was a strike in the past
with no damage to the station.

73

John
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Isbell" <[email protected]>
To: "Mail list Antennas" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2003 3:08 PM
Subject: [Antennas] Lightning Protectors

> I have a very old coaxial lightning protector that has a ground
screw on
> the side and a "gap" internally that is supposed to shunt lightning
off
> the center conductor of the antenna lead in.
>
> Do these work well?
>
> Where is the best place to put them??
>
> I dont understand how it would protect the equipment just because it
> shunted part of the lightning to ground.  Surely some would continue
on
> down the cable to the receiver, wouldn't it??
>
> - - -
>
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