Lightning protection
Moderator: VK6ZMS
-
- Moderator
- Posts: 2993
- Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 10:06 am
- Amateur callsign: VK6UFO_VK6RN
- Scanners and Receivers:
Scanners/receivers
Diamond Welz WS1000 wideband handheld
Radioshack Pro 28 handheld
Uniden UBC72XLT handheld
Uniden UBC73XLT handheld
Uniden UBC330CRS desktop
Two-way
Yaesu VX-3R 2m/70cm Ham TRX and wideband RX handheld
Yaesu FT-1802M 2m Ham TRX mobile x 2
Yaesu FT-7800R 2m/70cm Ham TRX and wide band RX mobile
Icom IC-208H 2m/70cm Ham TRX and wide band RX mobile
Icom IC-706MKIIG all-band all-mode Ham TRX mobile
Icom IC-V85 2m VHF Ham TRX handheld
Wouxun KG-UVD1P VHF/UHF wideband Ham TRX handheld
Wouxun KG-679P VHF wideband Ham TRX handheld
Wouxun KG-713 UHF wideband Ham TRX handheld - Location: Just on the border of your waking mind
Lightning protection
Anybody using lightning protection on their elevated coaxes attached to their lovely expensive equipment that wouldn't like eleventy trillion volts attacking it? Commercial? Home-made? Unplug if you remember to?
Rob
OF78WD
Amateur moderator
.
→Arguing with a fool proves there are two
OF78WD
Amateur moderator
.
→Arguing with a fool proves there are two
-
- Site Admin
- Posts: 2610
- Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 10:33 pm
- Amateur callsign: VK6HGR
- Scanners and Receivers: Various Yaesu, Kenwood, Tait, Simoco and Philips'
- Location: Perth, Western Australia
- Contact:
Re: Lightning protection
I've used gas arrestors before. Not cheap and they need a well thought out earth system but they do the job for anything up to a direct strike to the antenna.robbage wrote:Anybody using lightning protection on their elevated coaxes attached to their lovely expensive equipment that wouldn't like eleventy trillion volts attacking it? Commercial? Home-made? Unplug if you remember to?
Gavin Rogers; VK6HGR
http://vk6hgr.ampr.org/
WARSUG forum administrator
Site and stream donations: https://www.paypal.me/vk6hgr
http://vk6hgr.ampr.org/
WARSUG forum administrator
Site and stream donations: https://www.paypal.me/vk6hgr
-
- Moderator
- Posts: 2993
- Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 10:06 am
- Amateur callsign: VK6UFO_VK6RN
- Scanners and Receivers:
Scanners/receivers
Diamond Welz WS1000 wideband handheld
Radioshack Pro 28 handheld
Uniden UBC72XLT handheld
Uniden UBC73XLT handheld
Uniden UBC330CRS desktop
Two-way
Yaesu VX-3R 2m/70cm Ham TRX and wideband RX handheld
Yaesu FT-1802M 2m Ham TRX mobile x 2
Yaesu FT-7800R 2m/70cm Ham TRX and wide band RX mobile
Icom IC-208H 2m/70cm Ham TRX and wide band RX mobile
Icom IC-706MKIIG all-band all-mode Ham TRX mobile
Icom IC-V85 2m VHF Ham TRX handheld
Wouxun KG-UVD1P VHF/UHF wideband Ham TRX handheld
Wouxun KG-679P VHF wideband Ham TRX handheld
Wouxun KG-713 UHF wideband Ham TRX handheld - Location: Just on the border of your waking mind
I've got a pile of gas arrestors from some de-commissioned equipment. They were installed on some STP data cables. They are a clip in thingy with the arrestor part snapping into a holder. The holder has two solder tabs.
I agree the earthing would have to be done right. Putting one directly from centre of the coax to shield wouldn't achieve much, I guess. Did you have them at the antenna or the equipment end? Was there much effect on signal, swr etc? I can get a pretty good ground to the mast. What concerns me is that grounding the mast might make it a more attractive path.
After seeing those pics of the house that had a strike a couple of weeks ago, I doubt anything will save your gear with a direct hit
I agree the earthing would have to be done right. Putting one directly from centre of the coax to shield wouldn't achieve much, I guess. Did you have them at the antenna or the equipment end? Was there much effect on signal, swr etc? I can get a pretty good ground to the mast. What concerns me is that grounding the mast might make it a more attractive path.
After seeing those pics of the house that had a strike a couple of weeks ago, I doubt anything will save your gear with a direct hit
Rob
OF78WD
Amateur moderator
.
→Arguing with a fool proves there are two
OF78WD
Amateur moderator
.
→Arguing with a fool proves there are two
I have used Novaris, RFI and another brand whose name escapes me at the moment.
All much of a muchness - I wouldn't bank on anything saving radio gear from a direct hit, but may be of value against EPR's. I guess you will never know if it has been worth the investment unless you come home one day and everything else is fried.
Interestingly I've seen a surge diverter systems that has a counter which totals the number of direct hits an installation has but never known of them to be installed.
All much of a muchness - I wouldn't bank on anything saving radio gear from a direct hit, but may be of value against EPR's. I guess you will never know if it has been worth the investment unless you come home one day and everything else is fried.
Interestingly I've seen a surge diverter systems that has a counter which totals the number of direct hits an installation has but never known of them to be installed.
Are these the same as the old Telecom/PMG arrestors that were on phone lines? We've got a heap of them around somewhere. Would it be practical to use them on coax?robbage wrote:I've got a pile of gas arrestors from some de-commissioned equipment. They were installed on some STP data cables. They are a clip in thingy with the arrestor part snapping into a holder. The holder has two solder tabs.
I agree the earthing would have to be done right. Putting one directly from centre of the coax to shield wouldn't achieve much, I guess. Did you have them at the antenna or the equipment end? Was there much effect on signal, swr etc? I can get a pretty good ground to the mast. What concerns me is that grounding the mast might make it a more attractive path.
After seeing those pics of the house that had a strike a couple of weeks ago, I doubt anything will save your gear with a direct hit
-
- Site Admin
- Posts: 2610
- Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 10:33 pm
- Amateur callsign: VK6HGR
- Scanners and Receivers: Various Yaesu, Kenwood, Tait, Simoco and Philips'
- Location: Perth, Western Australia
- Contact:
Since they were designed for phones, their high frequency response will probably suck. So no, I wouldn't use 'em.Toottoot wrote: Are these the same as the old Telecom/PMG arrestors that were on phone lines? We've got a heap of them around somewhere. Would it be practical to use them on coax?
Gavin Rogers; VK6HGR
http://vk6hgr.ampr.org/
WARSUG forum administrator
Site and stream donations: https://www.paypal.me/vk6hgr
http://vk6hgr.ampr.org/
WARSUG forum administrator
Site and stream donations: https://www.paypal.me/vk6hgr
-
- Moderator
- Posts: 2993
- Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 10:06 am
- Amateur callsign: VK6UFO_VK6RN
- Scanners and Receivers:
Scanners/receivers
Diamond Welz WS1000 wideband handheld
Radioshack Pro 28 handheld
Uniden UBC72XLT handheld
Uniden UBC73XLT handheld
Uniden UBC330CRS desktop
Two-way
Yaesu VX-3R 2m/70cm Ham TRX and wideband RX handheld
Yaesu FT-1802M 2m Ham TRX mobile x 2
Yaesu FT-7800R 2m/70cm Ham TRX and wide band RX mobile
Icom IC-208H 2m/70cm Ham TRX and wide band RX mobile
Icom IC-706MKIIG all-band all-mode Ham TRX mobile
Icom IC-V85 2m VHF Ham TRX handheld
Wouxun KG-UVD1P VHF/UHF wideband Ham TRX handheld
Wouxun KG-679P VHF wideband Ham TRX handheld
Wouxun KG-713 UHF wideband Ham TRX handheld - Location: Just on the border of your waking mind
Possibly. I think it would be a pain in the butt. Shield to ground could be done.Toottoot wrote:Are these the same as the old Telecom/PMG arrestors that were on phone lines? We've got a heap of them around somewhere. Would it be practical to use them on coax?
This was my concern. At higher frequencies, they probably act like a capacitorvk6hgr wrote:Since they were designed for phones, their high frequency response will probably suck. So no, I wouldn't use 'em.
Even then you couldn't be sure it wasn't just dumb luck. Lightning is a strange beast.Toottoot wrote:I have used Novaris, RFI and another brand whose name escapes me at the moment.
All much of a muchness - I wouldn't bank on anything saving radio gear from a direct hit, but may be of value against EPR's. I guess you will never know if it has been worth the investment unless you come home one day and everything else is fried.
A sparky I work with says that Western Power use strike counters a lot to gauge the number of strikes on power lines and poles. Makes me wonder how often this happens. I've got surge diverters at work but they're just a black box that trip a breakerToottoot wrote:Interestingly I've seen a surge diverter systems that has a counter which totals the number of direct hits an installation has but never known of them to be installed.
Rob
OF78WD
Amateur moderator
.
→Arguing with a fool proves there are two
OF78WD
Amateur moderator
.
→Arguing with a fool proves there are two
I'm a sparky and used to maintain some power lines up north. The main fault would be the line would get hit by lightning and crack the insulators on the pole. It would only be a hairline fracture and you would have to drive the entire length of the line to spot the damaged insulator. That was until we installed surge current indicators which narrows it down a bit.
Ive seen a lot of surge current indicators on the power lines around on the SWIS and it looks like they talk back to the WP control centre through the telemetry network.
Ive also seen radio equipment that people describe as 'would fail as soon as it smelt lightning coming', but installing surge protection on the power side fixed it.
Ive seen a lot of surge current indicators on the power lines around on the SWIS and it looks like they talk back to the WP control centre through the telemetry network.
Ive also seen radio equipment that people describe as 'would fail as soon as it smelt lightning coming', but installing surge protection on the power side fixed it.
-
- Moderator
- Posts: 2993
- Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 10:06 am
- Amateur callsign: VK6UFO_VK6RN
- Scanners and Receivers:
Scanners/receivers
Diamond Welz WS1000 wideband handheld
Radioshack Pro 28 handheld
Uniden UBC72XLT handheld
Uniden UBC73XLT handheld
Uniden UBC330CRS desktop
Two-way
Yaesu VX-3R 2m/70cm Ham TRX and wideband RX handheld
Yaesu FT-1802M 2m Ham TRX mobile x 2
Yaesu FT-7800R 2m/70cm Ham TRX and wide band RX mobile
Icom IC-208H 2m/70cm Ham TRX and wide band RX mobile
Icom IC-706MKIIG all-band all-mode Ham TRX mobile
Icom IC-V85 2m VHF Ham TRX handheld
Wouxun KG-UVD1P VHF/UHF wideband Ham TRX handheld
Wouxun KG-679P VHF wideband Ham TRX handheld
Wouxun KG-713 UHF wideband Ham TRX handheld - Location: Just on the border of your waking mind