...........I was going to ask you about St Elmo's fire, you said you do SOTA (Summits on the air ) occasionally, and I was wondering how you deal with it... I've heard that at some locations, just raising a mitten above your head will attract a lot of static, what to do about antennas ! ! ! (except get to a lower location).......
Joel, ( MUTVAV)
What do we do about it ?
Not much.
"St Elmo's fire occurs in the same type of electrically charged atmosphere that causes lightning to occur. If you observe the former, it may be an indication that a lightning storm is imminent or nearby. It should serve as a warning to take cover...... " an Anonymous Faie
That is probably a very vague way to put it, but I trust her.
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Its quite common around my home, especially when clouds settle over the mountain tops. My buildings sits at about 10,000 feet-- not too far below the treeline- and here we have a first row seat for all sorts of---what John Denver sang about in his
Rocky Mountain High- "fire in the sky?"
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But so far we have lived in a peaceful co-existence. Every is grounded; there are surge protectors galore-- that's about it. I listed earlier a IEEE pamphlet addressing lightning --and follow it careful---
But the St. Elmo fires ? - well, they are quite the harmless Faies.....
.
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Harmless to us anyway (knocking on wood) .... and when not on the mountain peaks, that is-----
But up at the high elevations, when metallic objects begin to ring and glow with green coronas, your hair stands up straight--- you are not that far off from a lightning strike. That's when you move your sorry arse down the mountain fast !
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(A few years back I wrote about some St. Elmo's fire encounters and posted them in the RR Forums..... here's one:
I have two antennas on a 50 foot tower. One is a Solarcon vertical and the other is a end fed half wave long wire. Tower is grounded to a ground rod 10 ft in the ground I am trying to protect my radio equipment from lightning strikes. I have been told the best solution is to disconnect the coax...
forums.radioreference.com
)
........................... SCPD was me once upon a time....
Lauri
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