[Lowfer] WC2XSR/13 Web Page Update for 7/28

[Ralph Hartwell]

> >The lightning triggered the static gap, and the transmitter RF
followed
> >the arc path.  It takes about 4 or 5 seconds for the gap to clear,
> >depending on the breeze blowing across the gap.
>
> Now let's get this picture straight, Ben. You are out in the rain with
your
> digital cammera, waiting for lightning to strike the antenna?? Most of
the
> guys I know run for cover and disconnect their antenna at the first
sight of
> a storm cloud!

I was standing about two feet away from the antenna tuner, with the
camera held about six inches from the spark gap.  The rain had not
arrived yet, and the thunderstorm was snapping away about 1 - 2 miles
away, judging from the time between the flash and the bang.

Some storms don't seem to induce much charge on the antenna, others will
really pop it.  Some times I can even hear short leader strokes jumping
off the tower and the trees nearby when a storm passes over the QTH.
It's most interesting, unless you happen to be on the tower.  Around
here, we often have a lot of "popcorn" thunderstorms that suddenly build
up, zap & dump, and then fade away just as fast as they started.  Most
folks around here generally tend to ignore them, because they are pretty
much of a daily occurrence around here in the summer months.

One day a few years ago, when I was working on the tower, I didn't
notice the storm clouds approaching from behind me, and right about the
time the clouds got almost directly overhead, the first bolt of
lightning hit the earth about a half mile in front of me. Needless to
say, that got my attention in a hurry!  I think it took me about 30
seconds to make it down the 50 feet to the ground.  Being inside a tower
during a storm is one thing, being outside the tower is quite another!

Being a weather nut, a confirmed Tesla coil builder, and a general high
voltage fanatic, thunderstorms and lightning hold a particular interest
for me.  Most of my electronic gear is reasonably lightning surge
hardened, and I have copper grounding straps going up and over the
house.  That, plus the assorted ground rods and straps pretty much
assures that the house is fairly well protected, but with a direct
lightning hit, nothing is certain. I have been at this QTH for almost 20
years, and in that time all the equipment has survived through several
close hits, the closest of which was about 150 feet away.  Neighbors on
both sides of my house have had some of their electronic goodies toasted
by those same hits, but they had no suppression or other protection for
their gear.

73,

Ralph   W5JGV / WC2XSR / 13

http://home.att.net/~shmrg

http://home.att.net/~ralph.hartwell