Put up a sign with that statement on it. Attach it to your antenna/tower. The lightning will see that and not strike.:headbangBe real...I am not a commercial broadcast radio station.
Put up a sign with that statement on it. Attach it to your antenna/tower. The lightning will see that and not strike.:headbangBe real...I am not a commercial broadcast radio station.
Put up a sign with that statement on it. Attach it to your antenna/tower. The lightning will see that and not strike.:headbang
Be real...I am not a commercial broadcast radio station.
:headbang ARGH!
The same basics apply for CB, ham radio, paging systems, cellular phones, broadcasting, etc. It doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. In fact, proper planning at installation can be very simple and not cost anything extra. You likely have no problem dishing out hundreds of dollars for radio equipment, towers, antennas, etc but then go cheap on installation.
And I've seen VERY few commercial broadcast stations that were properly installed. Even high priced consultants and supposed RF engineers all too often miss the boat completely.
I did what I know how to do......which is drive a ground rod in the ground and attach it to my tower with heavy solid copper wire.....that is the extent of my grounding knowledge....I asked the question because I do not know...then basically it seems I get called stupid for not knowing the answer....or am I reading yours and CK's posts wrong?
I'm not calling you stupid! You're right to ask questions and try to learn.
The stupid ones are those who have the information in front of them and are too pig headed to read and accept it. Read through the grounding PDF as well as the techniques mentioned in its links. There are simple and inexpensive techniques to protect your equipment.
Tossing the cable outdoors during a storm is really not a solution. If there were a strike while you were moving the cable you'd get nailed. If you're away from home or asleep there is no protection. You need to provide protection to the system 24/7 and not worry about having to disconnect anything.
Absolutely correct.
I did what I know how to do......which is drive a ground rod in the ground and attach it to my tower with heavy solid copper wire.....that is the extent of my grounding knowledge....I asked the question because I do not know...then basically it seems I get called stupid for not knowing the answer....or am I reading yours and CK's posts wrong?
This old house of mine still has the old 2 prong outlets....and I have no idea how it is grounded.
Nobody called you stupid. Warren (VO1KS) and I just got caught up in a well grounded discussion Sorry for the pun but it was completely intentional. Somewhere in that discussion I was hoping that some info was stated that would have been of some use.
Even the two prong outlets lead back to the electrical service main entrance panel that should be grounded. There should be a heavy ground wire, probably green, that goes from the frame of your panel outdoors to a buried ground rod. Ideally the tower ground should be connected to the ground back at your electrical service panel and it should be connected with a heavy wide copper strap or a very heavy wire. The bigger the better.
I went out and looked at my meter and looked for a ground rod like in the diagram....no ground rod....so I traced the ground wire and it looks like it goes back out to the telephone pole.
The only ground I found in the breaker box went to the water pipe that comes up out of the cement.
Hmmmmm..... a ground should not go back to the telephone pole but it should go from the telco entrance to ground. Are you sure it is telephone pole it goes back too and not a power pole that brings the power into the house? Sometimes you will not see a ground rod at the electrical entrance as they are often buried completely at the time of installation and all you see is a heavy wire disappearing into the ground. Usually the COLD water pipe is also tied to the electrical ground but there is usually a separate ground rod as well. In my basement I can see the main ground coming in from the power company tied to my panel and a heavy green wire going from my panel to my cold water pipe.