[Antennas] Lightning Protectors

[Billy Cox]

>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?

After about 20 years of just being lucky and trusting 'ham lore' the
house/station here suffered major lightning damage ... so to do it
right this time, I decided to see how the commerical stations provide
for lightning protection. <After all, they don't unplug and disconnect
with every passing storm ...> Now 8 years later, after following the
methods used by commerical stations, there's been no more damage.

Here's a site that I used to begin my plans and upgrading here:

http://www.polyphaser.com/ppc_pen_home.asp

LOTS of good information to read and consider, that helps to
"discharge" B-) some of the 'ham lore' that runs around ...

Back to your question about the present unit. No, it's not much
as to offering and real protection. Read the Polyphaser site to
understand why. Also QST did a 2 part series on this a few years
ago ... might be worth digging out those back issues there.

73 Billy AA4NU