[Hallicrafters] Antenna Lightning Protection

[Dennis]

Roger,

Do you ground your tower ground system to the house power ground stake directly, indirectly or not at all??

Dennis, k0eoo


---- "Roger (K8RI)" <Hallicraftersgroup at rogerhalstead.com> wrote: 
> 
> 
> Carl wrote:
> > Interesting Bob.  Ive been arguing about the Cone concept for decades 
> > but the established orthodoxy  rebels violently whenever it is 
> > mentioned. Ive left several antenna forums in disgust over this.
> >   
> I have to agree with you guys.  With the top of my tower ..OK, antennas 
> an mast reaching 130' I've seen a LOT of stuff within that cone take 
> direct hits. Actually my neighbor and I were standing by the power pole 
> with the pig on top (at the end of my driveway with a thunderstorm way 
> off in the distance. All of a sudden we bout went deaf when that pole 
> took a direct hit. To say we beat a hasty retreat would be an 
> understatement.  That is not to say my tower doesn't get hit. As I've 
> mentioned before, it has taken an average of 3 verified direct hits a 
> year and the las two years were strike free.  OTOH the tower has been 
> ignored for power poles, pine trees, houses, ... you name it. One 
> multiple strike hit the tower several times, the pole out front, the 
> pole and transformer to the north AND a yound pine tree almost a 100 
> yards to the East.  The Pine may have been 60 to 70' tall and maybe a 
> foot around at the base.  The largest piece left was about 3' long and 
> it was found about 40 feet from the base of the tree, stuck into the 
> ground over a foot.
> 
> Admittedly lightning is unpredictable, but I have my doubts about the 
> reliability of the so called "cone of protection.
> 
> So far, since finishing the elaborate ground system with 32 or 33 8' 
> ground rods, cad welded (TM) to over 600' of bare #2, tied into a single 
> point ground I've had no damage even after taking 15 direct hits over 
> the years and that is without disconnecting anything. For one it'd too 
> difficult to get at the connections.  If I heard a storm coming it'd be 
> too late to safely get in there any way. By the time  could get every 
> thing disconnected the storm and most dangerous part would be past.
> 
> I think one mistake many make it disconnecting cables and not grounding 
> them.  Floating coax and ladder line can reach some almost unbelievable 
> potentials that can be in the 100's of thousands of volts.  They just 
> keep charging until they arc to *something*
> 
> 73
> 
> Roger (K8RI)
> > Carl
> > KM1H
> >
> >
> >   
> >   
> ______________________________________________________________