On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 11:09:09 -0500, "Robert11"
wrote:

Hi,

Have an attic located, receiving only, random length antenna.

Thinking of stringing one outdoors, but have a few questions, and concerns,
regarding nearby lightning.

a. would you folks agree that having it indoors under the house roof,
probably provides 0.0 % added protection relative to if it was outdoors ?
That any additional indoor protection due to being indoors is probably more
psychological than anything else ?

b. We gets lots of lighning strikes around here. Happy to say that they
have all been "nearby".
This is the crux of what concerns me.

I can't help but feel that if there ever was a truly direct strike on the
wire running (horizontally) outdoors,
a gas discharge tube protector like the Alpha-Delta ones wouldn't really
help much.

But, for the nearby strikes, where possibly just a few hundred volts perhaps
is induced into the wire (but enough to fry the radios front end), would the
Alpha Delta types even trigger ?

c. what's the best protection for "nearby" strikes, other than a total
disconnect ?

BTW: would grounding of the wire be equally effective as a total disconnect
of it ?

Thanks,
Bob


Look at the schematic (scroll down):

http://www.geocities.com/qrp_baluns/QB-9E.html

Note that all points are at DC Ground. Put one of these near the
ground with a nice short fat wire running to a proper ground and
you'll be protected against anything but a direct strike. This
actually is better than a gas discharge tube because it drains of ALL
static electricity, not just that above a certain voltage.