[Elecraft] [OT] A dumb question about lightning

[Rick NK7I]

Not often (enough) does a ham have a 100'+ tower either.  😉

THE standard (of way so many to choose from) is from the cell phone 
industry (Motorola mostly).  It's insanely complex but if you're on a 
mountain top and need 100% reliability; ideal.  The costs, will be a 
second mortgage so some compromises will have to happen.

Here is a better link to the current (newest edition) of the ARRL book; 
at least a good starting point for a baseline understanding.  Direct 
hits, no matter what system/s used, will always show what you missed or 
didn't do enough to mitigate.

https://a.co/d/01vRC1W

Another aspect is static reduction.  That comes from wind, rain, dust, 
snow, anything that passes by the structure.  Shunt all to ground 
OUTside the building is the best approach.  (Base of the tower/mast and 
again at structure entry; make EVERYTHING at the same ground potential, 
inside and out.  When you take a hit, that potential rises, equally if 
all is done well; it's the difference in potential that harms.)

73,
Rick nk7i

On 7/28/2023 2:31 PM, Dr. William J. Schmidt wrote:
> Even the methods in that book are considered sub-standard by the broadcast industry...  The only think that is a sure bet is to completely disconnect your radio and put it back in the shipping box.
>
>
> Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ
>
> email:  bill at wjschmidt.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net <elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Friday, July 28, 2023 4:14 PM
> To: john at kk9a.com
> Cc: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [OT] A dumb question about lightning
>
>
> https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwiOk5PAqLKAAxUjEa0GHYmDBJgYABACGgJwdg&ae=2&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAASJORo_AZEAzrEwZh7d0CRaunieFV8dsSC3IDZqsPWbucgX_uNKQ&sig=AOD64_1qxgTjvgwY4_QbQuPW5KxSnoObmA&q&adurl&ved=2ahUKEwiEsI3AqLKAAxViAjQIHe9mC-UQ0Qx6BAgOEAE
>
> Welcome to the Bible of grounding.   It’ll take several reads to grasp what you have to do.
>
> 73,
> Rick NK7I
>
>
>> On Jul 28, 2023, at 2:11 PM, john at kk9a.com wrote:
>>
>> I would recommend that you follow proper lightning bonding/grounding
>> techniques, these are the only methods that work. My tower has taken a
>> number of lighting strikes. You cannot prevent a lightning strike.
>> Simply disconnecting your feedling will not prevent damage inside your
>> house as the voltage from a strike will be induced into your home's electrical wires.
>>
>> John KK9A
>>
>>
>> Al Lorona W6LX wrote:
>>
>>
>> Please don't laugh at me; I'm a transplant from a region of the
>> country with essentially no lightning to a region where you have to
>> worry about it quite a bit.
>>
>> We had a doozy of a storm last night, with lots of lightning overhead.
>> I felt like a sitting duck, even though I had grounded both sides of
>> the balanced feedline of the antenna, switched the antenna switch to
>> the middle
>> (grounded) position, and even disconnected the coax leading to the
>> K3's rear-panel antenna port.
>>
>> Whenever lightning happens, I always wonder if it really is in fact
>> better to ground everything. Because, doesn't that essentially make a
>> lightning rod of the antenna? If I simply disconnected the antenna and
>> left it floating, wouldn't it be less likely to attract a lightning bolt?
>>
>> I'm of the belief that it's better to try to avoid a direct hit than
>> to attract one and trust your grounding system to do its thing. I'm of
>> the belief that no grounding system is perfectly effective.
>>
>> Al  W6LX/4
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Elecraft mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email
>> list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to
>> rick.nk7i at gmail.com
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to bill at wjschmidt.com
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to rick.nk7i at gmail.com