Lightening Surge Protector (How they're made!)

[TeRayCodA]

So,Warren; do you think I need to re-evaluate my ground system? I have each leg,of a rohn 25 grounded with 8ft UL rods.Would it be coincidence that I have been hit twice,or,is there 'something' lightning likes about my tower?

[acyddrop]

Actually I have a few MFJ products that have worked flawlessly since purchasing them. I use one of their vertical antenna mounts on a guyed 43' home made vertical. Works great and didn't cost me a fortune. I was going to get a DXE (non-tilt) mount but was going to spend $99 for the plate and another $40 for clamps so I settled on the MFJ-1900. Works fine for my purposes.

Martin (the M, F and J in MFJ) comes across like a pretty nice guy too, but who knows appearances can be deceiving.

Originally Posted by kb2vxa

Not really, I have a TNC and tuner that work perfectly, you just have to know what you're buying.

A properly grounded tower with attention given to cable paths is a lightning rod protecting a circle the diameter equal to twice the height. Something is wrong considering the damage, checking into how the pros (commercial towers) do it surely would help doing it right.

[kb2vxa]

You need more ground rods spaced around the tower in two rings, the outer about a foot from the inner. That one may be completed by driving in three more between those already there and connected together with the heaviest wire you can manage, replace the ones to the tower legs with the same wire. The outer ring can be eight rods ringed and connected to the inner rods individually. Earth being a poor conductor you need as much contact surface as you can get and the spacing gives the charge more room to spread out. Some may say this is overkill but when it comes to lightning protection there is no such thing as overkill.

Treating the antenna leads is another discussion and single point grounding in the shack another you may be interested in. Funny how these subjects have been talked to death and even argued but I write from experience with broadcast and commercial systems and get fired upon by the amateurs ad infinitum. That makes me usually avoid the subject but I'll give it a go since you seem to have rather bad luck when dealing with Thor or Zeus if you prefer.

"Martin (the M, F and J in MFJ) comes across like a pretty nice guy too, but who knows appearances can be deceiving."
Yeah, he looks nothing like your avatar. (;->)

[prcguy]

That's contrary to what Polyphaser and other lightning protection companies suggest. The quantity and distance between ground rods is determined by several factors and not just filling in between existing rods.
prcguy

Originally Posted by kb2vxa

You need more ground rods spaced around the tower in two rings, the outer about a foot from the inner. That one may be completed by driving in three more between those already there and connected together with the heaviest wire you can manage, replace the ones to the tower legs with the same wire. The outer ring can be eight rods ringed and connected to the inner rods individually. Earth being a poor conductor you need as much contact surface as you can get and the spacing gives the charge more room to spread out. Some may say this is overkill but when it comes to lightning protection there is no such thing as overkill.

Treating the antenna leads is another discussion and single point grounding in the shack another you may be interested in. Funny how these subjects have been talked to death and even argued but I write from experience with broadcast and commercial systems and get fired upon by the amateurs ad infinitum. That makes me usually avoid the subject but I'll give it a go since you seem to have rather bad luck when dealing with Thor or Zeus if you prefer.

"Martin (the M, F and J in MFJ) comes across like a pretty nice guy too, but who knows appearances can be deceiving."
Yeah, he looks nothing like your avatar. (;->)

[kb2vxa]

Read on, there's more to it than that, more rods and spacing. Every installation is a bit different in the details to accommodate it but that's as good a model as any of a ham station I know built to broadcast standards. Don't sweat the petty things when petting the sweaty things is a lot more fun.

[knightrider]

I live next to a rail yard. Either their towers, or trains and tracks seem to grab the lightning. Not 100%, but has been good so far. So..... Ya'll move near a railyard, or move to Texas near me :-)

[dksac2]

Whatever you do, don't skip proper grounding.

Like a fool, I quickly hooked up a radio to a coax directly from an antenna just for a minute to test the tranceiver to see if it worked.

There was a lightning storm at least 10 miles away, nothing overhead of me. Lightning hit that 10 miles away and fried my power supply. Glad that was all.

I now never hook up an antenna without going through a properly grounded arrestor. Heck, even static from the wind can cause problems.

The electrical charge from a lightning storm can travel a great distance, be safe, not sorry.

This happened about a year ago, new guys seem to learn the hard way sometimes. Just be glad you don't have my ground, full of potato size rocks. I have many ground rods and have darn near killed myself putting them in. Some are cut off at 5 feet, not good, but I just try another close by. Trying to get a 10' rod or even an 8' rod all the way down is a real experience, the best will bend before moving another inch once they hit a decent size rock.

Next year after the snow melts, I'm going to have a friend with a back hoe dig down and lay a bunch horizontally, that works great to.

73's John