"Rick" wrote in message
...

I want to install a vertical, fed with an SGC230 at the bottom, but
concerned about minimising chance of a lightning strike on a bare
conductor.

Hi Nick,
There is virtually nothing you can do to prevent a strike hitting your
antenna.

Interesting topic!

I have a tall metal pole supporting one end of a long wire HF antenna. This
tall metal pole is set in 1 cu yard of concrete. Is this concrete suitable
for conduction into mother earth or should I run a large copper strap from
the pole to an earth rod?

JERD
VK5JE

Is this concrete suitable for conduction into mother earth or should I run
a large copper strap from the pole to an earth rod?

Hi Jerd,
The latter, and you should have more than one if possible. The strap should
not have bends in it, should be low inductance (a copper strap is better
than a wire, etc.). Remember there are zillions of electrons coming down
that pole, and they all have to get into the earth, and all the ones in
front are being pushed by the ones in back, all screaming "Hurry up, or get
the hell outta the way, cause I gotta go...... real bad." And if they don't
get outta the way, the ones in back will jump around them like a New York
driver in a traffic jamb, to find a faster way to get where they are headed.
And you don't want that to happen because the other path may be through your
coax and into your house/equipment.
Now how does that portray the situation? That's the best I can do !

Rick K2XT

Rick a écrit :
Is this concrete suitable for conduction into mother earth or should I run
a large copper strap from the pole to an earth rod?

Hi Jerd,
The latter, and you should have more than one if possible. The strap should
not have bends in it, should be low inductance (a copper strap is better
than a wire, etc.). Remember there are zillions of electrons coming down
that pole, and they all have to get into the earth, and all the ones in
front are being pushed by the ones in back, all screaming "Hurry up, or get
the hell outta the way, cause I gotta go...... real bad." And if they don't
get outta the way, the ones in back will jump around them like a New York
driver in a traffic jamb, to find a faster way to get where they are headed.
And you don't want that to happen because the other path may be through your
coax and into your house/equipment.



Now how does that portray the situation? That's the best I can do !

Awesome

--
Ker2x

On Nov 12, 12:46 pm, "JERD" wrote:
"Rick" wrote in message

...



I want to install a vertical, fed with an SGC230 at the bottom, but
concerned about minimising chance of a lightning strike on a bare
conductor.

Hi Nick,
There is virtually nothing you can do to prevent a strike hitting your
antenna.

Interesting topic!

I have a tall metal pole supporting one end of a long wire HF antenna. This
tall metal pole is set in 1 cu yard of concrete. Is this concrete suitable
for conduction into mother earth or should I run a large copper strap from
the pole to an earth rod?

JERD
VK5JE

Should be fairly good as is. Acts as sort of a "UFER" ground.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=ufe...p=mss&ei=UTF-8
I don't think adding another wire to ground would hurt anything,
but it's probably not needed to act as a decent lightning ground.
My mast is sitting directly into the earth. But I also run about
3 wires from the base of the mast to the ground system under
the mast, which is connected to all other grounds.
I've had two direct strikes that I know of, and they were non events.
The mast seemed to be fairly low resistance as the strikes were
very quiet. Or at least, thats one personal method I use to tell
if an object is a good lightning ground. A poor ground like a tree
will give a very loud crack as it strikes, and I'm not talking about
the sonic boom which occurs a very short time later. I'm
talking about the actual direct sound you hear from the strike,
which also gives a "click" to the auditory nerve if you are close
enough.
MK