"§ Dr. Artaud §" wrote

I have been perusing the information on Lightning Protection in the link
that you provided. As a side issue, have you studied CAT III Voltmeter
protection? http://www.ecmweb.com/mag/electric_m...afety_measure/

Arc-flash and arc-blast prevention/safety measure rules have been a big
focus of training programs lately. Guards were installed around many
equipments that have the capabiity to generate arcing, and you can't walk
near HV equipment areas without face shield, etc now. I personally have an
old Beckman Industrial 320B digital multimeter which only has the safety of
it's operator's care behind it ;-) For my use at 240v or less at home
that's fine for me.


Also, being too tired to digest much more information, and having saved
the information from your posts, have you ever see this antenna, any
comments that you have would be appreciated?
http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...wire/4075.html

As usual, reading the reviews on EHAM, several were positive, a couple
were absolutely negative. It's an end fed antenna that they represent as
needing a 25 foot central rise. The reviews seem to talk about
counterpoise, though the drawing at the link above seems to be suggesting
that the central pillar is the counterpoise, I would guess that it is a
network of wires needed to be buried. The 2 legs are 55 feet, to the rise
that is, and one of the reviews complained that the actual overall length
was longer than advertised.

"Also they're saying it only takes 88 feet of space is flat out wrong. If
you do simple math it will tell you 97 feet with the 25 foot support. I
put mine up to 30 feet and it takes up 92 feet overall."

Lastly, I would guess that people should not be exposed to the antenna
when transmitting.

Alas this would still put me back into the need of a vertical antenna for
transmitting with sufficient rise above the yard for safety.

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/1550

Nevertheless, I am still seeking to improve my receiving antenna for SWL
with the addition of lightning protection.

Thanks again,

Dr. Artaud


As long as a 100-200w ERP antenna is not within about 10 feet of where
people can linger, and it will not be touched, you should be fine. I had to
run a safety data sheet for a 1kw, and post signs in case some numbskull
climbs over my yard fence, but there was no personnel hazard from radiation
beyond 10' of the antennas. The feedpoint on an end-fed antenna has
dangerous voltages present during transmitting. Making sure no person or
animal comes near that during transmitting is your responsibility.

B&W has a reputation for some pretty good but pretty expensive antennas.
Realize that their antenna seem to favor Automatic Link Establishment (ALE)
systems. The military equivalents B&W are copying are all Near Vertical
Incident Skywave (NVIS) antennas. Also known as "cloud-warmers" because they
shower radiation down over a 200 mile area from launching nearly straight
up. So B&W's claims of low radiation angles in the lower bands sounds like a
contradiction, especially from such a short antenna for 160 meters. Possibly
eats 80% of the power input but after all, some hams do that from their cars
on 160m. If you can afford the experiment, that B&W might be just the
ticket, and it probably works fairly well where your current license can
take you. Write me off-line when you get ready to tie some coax shield
grounding and station ground rods together, I'll be glad to help.

best regards,

Jack