Owen Duffy wrote:
scooterspal wrote in news:kqWHh.8733$jx3.6472
@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net:

...

I have a gas discharge unit that comes with the antenna. It mates to

the

bottom connector and terms with the connector for the 4' of coax wire
that leads through the wall to the wireless AP unit. There is a ground
lug on the side of the discharge unit to attach a lead to.

...

Effective lightning protection is not trivial. It starts with an
assessment of the risk, including whether or not your structure is
effectively protected by nearby structures. The design of a protection
system should be an integated design, what you do to your antenna may
impact the other antennas / conductors / structures that are co-located.

And, decide what exactly you're protecting against. Keeping the
building from catching fire is a very different goal than keeping your
AP alive.

Keep in mind that protection conductors may need to withstand typically
20,000A for 0.1s. The coax outer will probably not withstand that, so you
must route the discharge to ground a different way.

The usual NEC grounding is not designed to address actual direct hit
currents from lightning. It's more to deal with things like inadvertent
contact with an overhead power line, a short from power line to
something metal and then to your antenna, and, to a certain degree, to
induced voltages from nearby strokes.

The focus of NEC is "personnel safety" followed by "structure safety",
with "equipment preservation" being a very, very far distant third.
Likewise, the local regulatory regime is more concerned about you
getting hurt or starting your house on fire than whether your AP
survives. If you're interested in "equipment preservation" there's a
whole 'nother set of places to look for recommendations (the IEEE
Emerald book, IEEE-std-1100 is a good place to start, but pricey to buy.
Roland Standler's book on protecting electronics from overvoltage from
Dover press for $20 is another).

There are also various and sundry books and app notes from the sellers
of protection equipment. They provide valuable information, and
practical applications engineering data, but you DO need to bear in mind
that they reflect that company's opinion of what the best way is. And
that way generally uses their particular devices. (not of some money
grubbing crassness, but because they have analyzed the problem, figured
out a solution, and make the parts for that solution)