On Tue, 27 Sep 2011 07:53:06 -0400, " Tuuk" wrote:

Thanks for all the info

Y'er welcome. Now, if you want a usable answer to your question, it
might be helpful if you describe the tower, what manner of DBS dish,
and some of the distances involved.

I am going to ground out the satellite dish to the tower.

If your unspecified type of tower is properly grounded, the tower will
protect the dish from a direct hit. Still, it's a good idea to ground
everything to reduce the effects of induced currents from a nearby
hit.

Grounding the dish is probably a good idea. Grounding the LNB at the
dish is a bad idea. Depending on model of LNB, many of them have no
DC connection between the LNB case and the dish ground. This is not
for lightning protection but to prevent ground loops. In general, you
want to do it the way the installation manual suggests and the NEC
electrical code demands, which is a grounded barrel connector
somewhere close to the utilities ground.
http://www.dbsinstall.com/whatis/Whatisgood-5.asp
Such a ground is NOT to protect against lightning, but to protect
against getting electrocuted if the satellite receiver magically loses
its protective AC ground and leaks some 117VAC onto the coax.

This discussion has some good comments on DBS dish grounding.
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=16300

Now it is grounded to my new plazma and I would feel more comfortable with
it grounded to the tower. Don't want nothing happening to that new plazma.
Now of course if it ever got hit by lightning I would imagine the receiver
would get fried, maybe not the tv, the coax goes into the receiver, then
into the yamaha sourround sound then into the tv. A jolt has to stop
somewhere along that line.

The general idea is to give the current a better path to ground than
through your expensive electronics.

Incidentally, I just found this on using wood for mounting:
http://www.dbsinstall.com/diy/GroundPostInstallation.asp

What's inside a Polyphaser cellular lightning protector:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/lightning/index.html
Note the 4 ceramic spark gaps in series. You get 4 hits, and then it
shorts out.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558