Some SteppIR antennas have been up for a year or more already and have
survived high winds and ice storms, but I don't recall hearing of any
lightning strikes.

The antenna itself has only beryllium-copper tapes whose length is
adjusted by stepper motors, the latter being pretty robust devices by
all accounts.

The sensitive electronics (microprocessor control unit) are in the shack
rather than up on the tower, so the smart thing to do would be to
disconnect and ground the control cable when not in use (after
retracting the elements completely), just as one would disconnect and
ground the feed line.

Alan NV8A


On 08/24/04 07:48 pm Jimmie put fingers to keyboard and launched the
following message into cyberspace:

www.steppir.com

What happens when one of these antennas takes a lightning strike. .