I like the idea of the window feed through. In case of a lightning storm,
one could easily disconnect his antennas from the INSIDE. My question is
should one ground the feed-through plate at the window to a ground rod just
below the window?

First thought - Maybe this would help protect the house.

Second though - Maybe it would be better to let the coax float with the
tower, to avoid burning out the coax.

Third thought - With ground rods at both the tower and the entrance to the
house, could this create a noise inducing ground loop?

Is there any standard practice about this?

--
Bob D. ND9B

On Thu, 10 May 2007 23:35:41 -0400, "Bob D."
wrote:

I like the idea of the window feed through. In case of a lightning storm,
one could easily disconnect his antennas from the INSIDE. My question is
should one ground the feed-through plate at the window to a ground rod just
below the window?

Hi Bob,

Only if you want the lightning to go there.

First thought - Maybe this would help protect the house.

Too many variables unmentioned to guarantee that.

Second though - Maybe it would be better to let the coax float with the
tower, to avoid burning out the coax.

Think of it as a fuse. Do you want it to blow open, or continue
feeding a bajillion amps into the ground nearby? (Again, neither of
these is guaranteed to occur - too much left unsaid.) This could
elevate the local ground potential and if you take too long a stride
you could feel half that potential between your legs (does that
motivate you?). This is implicit to the next thought:

Third thought - With ground rods at both the tower and the entrance to the
house, could this create a noise inducing ground loop?

Connect the two (and beyond) per standard practices.

Is there any standard practice about this?

Consult your local library for the code. Such things vary from place
to place, but there are commonalities - no doubt many of them will be
discussed here shortly.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Bob - An antenna expert (when I lived in central Florida) told me that
floating antennas will attract lightning. So, I always grounded my antennas
with an inside switch, and had a 60ft ground rod (washed-in water pipe)
directly under the center of my 70' tower base. Unlike many of my ham
friends, I never had any lightning damage to my rigs during 17 years of
living in the lightning capital. The mast had a number of burns on it when I
took it down to move north. I am sure it had more hits than the three I was
aware of. The other thing I did was loop the coax down to ground level, and
then back up (about 3') and through my window to the grounding switch in the
shack (bedroom). The theory there is that lightning doesn't like to reverse
direction and will usually jump from the shield to the ground rather than
loop back up and come into the house. The open feed line is an invitation
for the lightning to find its own way to ground - through your home. I
ground my feed lines with an outside switch these days, and so far still
have no hits on my radios. However, my antenna switch control box took
enough of a jolt from a close hit to burn out one diode. Andy K4YKZ

On Thu, 10 May 2007 23:35:41 -0400, "Bob D."
wrote:

I like the idea of the window feed through. In case of a lightning storm,
one could easily disconnect his antennas from the INSIDE. My question is
should one ground the feed-through plate at the window to a ground rod just
below the window?

I recently installed the MFJ feedthrough, and when bad weather
approaches, I disconnect the two dipoles and a j-pole from the
OUTSIDE. I hang the feedlines from a small tree outside the window. If
lightning hits, I figure it will find its way down the tree.

It hadn't occurred to me to disconnect from the inside, and bring the
lightning to my window sill. Yikes.

bob
k5qwg



First thought - Maybe this would help protect the house.

Second though - Maybe it would be better to let the coax float with the
tower, to avoid burning out the coax.

Third thought - With ground rods at both the tower and the entrance to the
house, could this create a noise inducing ground loop?

Is there any standard practice about this?