I had the new GPA behind the house up last week....
To make sure I had the best SWR and best signal, I use thick coax, and
left out the coupling piece I had that I used to disconnect in case
lighting was expected.
The weather report was good, with a drop of rain, and the sky was clear....
I went to sleep.
At 3.25 last night I woke up because of an incredible flash and BANG.
Thought "have to buy new gear now, pity..." hehe).
LOL
But nothing was smoking, counted seconds between flashes (more now),
it was overhead alright.
But my neighbor (50 meters away) has a higher mast.
Anyway, it started raining, usually there is enough conductive path then
for it not no strike, I went outside in pyamas, waited for a flash,
(clouds take time to charge up again) and cut the coax, folded it back,
so there was some meters separation.
Went to bed again, noticed I was wet...
Just now I put some connecters and a coupling piece, so that is fixed.
So, anyways the sky is clear and the sun shines, and the SWR is slightly
better now...
But now I am thinking 'lightning detector', I know these exist, was it not
a simple ferrite rod with a detector (for low frequencies)?
Does anyone here use these?
Good diagrams?
I should google anyways....

Anyways I made some other changes too, I am now running the set from a 12 Ah
12V gel battery,
It is charged continously with an AC/DC adapter, no large power supplies needed.
and I can use things when electricity fails, say in case of flooding.

_________________________________________
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Jan Panteltje wrote:

I had the new GPA behind the house up last week....
To make sure I had the best SWR and best signal, I use thick coax, and
left out the coupling piece I had that I used to disconnect in case
lighting was expected.
The weather report was good, with a drop of rain, and the sky was clear....
I went to sleep.
At 3.25 last night I woke up because of an incredible flash and BANG.
Thought "have to buy new gear now, pity..." hehe).
LOL
But nothing was smoking, counted seconds between flashes (more now),
it was overhead alright.
But my neighbor (50 meters away) has a higher mast.
Anyway, it started raining, usually there is enough conductive path then
for it not no strike, I went outside in pyamas, waited for a flash,
(clouds take time to charge up again) and cut the coax, folded it back,
so there was some meters separation.
Went to bed again, noticed I was wet...
Just now I put some connecters and a coupling piece, so that is fixed.
So, anyways the sky is clear and the sun shines, and the SWR is slightly
better now...
But now I am thinking 'lightning detector', I know these exist, was it not
a simple ferrite rod with a detector (for low frequencies)?
Does anyone here use these?
Good diagrams?
I should google anyways....

Anyways I made some other changes too, I am now running the set from a 12 Ah
12V gel battery,
It is charged continously with an AC/DC adapter, no large power supplies needed.
and I can use things when electricity fails, say in case of flooding.

_________________________________________
Usenet Zone Free Binaries Usenet Server
More than 140,000 groups
Unlimited download
http://www.usenetzone.com to open account
all the work to set up a station and no lightning protection scheme?
there are many ways to protect the equipment including gas discharge
kit. any surge protection on the ac input?

On a sunny day (Mon, 26 Sep 2005 19:41:07 -0400) it happened jim
wrote in :

all the work to set up a station and no lightning protection scheme?
there are many ways to protect the equipment including gas discharge
kit. any surge protection on the ac input?

mmm maybe the situation is different here.
And I do no see how I could make 100% lightning protection, neither
against EMP in case of a nuke attack.
As lighting is on average rather rare...
I found some diagrams of lightning detectors using google.
There seem to be basically 2 types, one with tuned antenna, and the other
with not tuned antenna.
The second would always trigger if anybody here in the area (I am
surrounded by CB fans) presses transmit....
So, last night I wound 500 turns of wire on an old ferrite rod,
tuned it with 100pF, then with 100nF.
I have this old helium neon laser supply, if you remove the laser
(it was kaput anyways), it makes great arcs.
Used oscilloscope to measure signals... and resonance of the ferrite
coil + cap.
So I can tune it from 3kHz to about 50 kHz.

Later I will look at what sort of pre-amp and pulse detector I will use,
it is small can go in a plastic box, and should trigger some beep
that alerts me.

That said, I left the little radio LW receiver I have on at about 163 kHz,
and feeding that into the PC for signal processing would also work.
So much for electronics.

Problem with lightning *protection* is (and I have worked with HV power
stuff) it will easily jump over whatever you make.. we used to play with 100kV
in the lab.... better to prevent it getting in the house in the first place
by disconnecting antennas.
My view anyways, cheap better solutions show me!
Those so called mains surge protectors you plug in the wall for the computer
are not worth the cost of box they come in.
I have one, opened it, it has 2 pins. some mm apart, that are supposed to
function as a spark gap.
In series with that is a VDR (voltage dependent resistor).
That crap will evaporate .... You will have several kV on ground and neutral
in case of a real hit....
And good thing, mains is here where I am all underground cable, so nothing
to worry about.
US is different I know, transformers with wiring on poles outside...
At most you can expect a power failure, when I run on gel battery I am free
of mains (but set is connected to PC for for example packet, voice control,
recording, headset... so once lightning DID make it on the mains it would
all evaporate).
I have seen TV PCBs (used to have a TV repair shop) with all tracks evaporated
because of lightning strike.
YMMV

"jim" wrote in message
...
Jan Panteltje wrote:

I had the new GPA behind the house up last week....
To make sure I had the best SWR and best signal, I use thick coax, and
left out the coupling piece I had that I used to disconnect in case
lighting was expected.
The weather report was good, with a drop of rain, and the sky was
clear....
I went to sleep.
At 3.25 last night I woke up because of an incredible flash and BANG.
Thought "have to buy new gear now, pity..." hehe).
LOL
But nothing was smoking, counted seconds between flashes (more now),
it was overhead alright.
But my neighbor (50 meters away) has a higher mast.
Anyway, it started raining, usually there is enough conductive path then
for it not no strike, I went outside in pyamas, waited for a flash,
(clouds take time to charge up again) and cut the coax, folded it back,
so there was some meters separation.
Went to bed again, noticed I was wet...
Just now I put some connecters and a coupling piece, so that is fixed.
So, anyways the sky is clear and the sun shines, and the SWR is slightly
better now...
But now I am thinking 'lightning detector', I know these exist, was it
not
a simple ferrite rod with a detector (for low frequencies)?
Does anyone here use these?
Good diagrams?
I should google anyways....

Anyways I made some other changes too, I am now running the set from a
12 Ah
12V gel battery,
It is charged continously with an AC/DC adapter, no large power supplies
needed.
and I can use things when electricity fails, say in case of flooding.

_________________________________________
Usenet Zone Free Binaries Usenet Server
More than 140,000 groups
Unlimited download
http://www.usenetzone.com to open account
all the work to set up a station and no lightning protection scheme?
there are many ways to protect the equipment including gas discharge
kit. any surge protection on the ac input?


Nothing that would be worth buying to protect a CB rig will stop a direct
strike. A direct strike will vaporize a gas discharge kit on its way to
your radio. But then if you want to spend a few thousand dollars you can
get direct-strike protection.

Kevin, WB5RUE




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I know nothing really will stop a direct strike but the more 90 degree turns you can make with you coax before entry the better! lightning doesnt like 90 degree angles, also i bring my coax all the way to the ground with a gas discharge unit at its lowest point then 90 back up to entry,most likely a drop in the bucket but ive never been wiped out. I also have 15 or so ground rods spread every 4 ft connected with stranded bare #6 then i covered it with dirt most of this is for field ground but field ground should be bonded to antenna ground always and is in my case, also bond them to your service ground,i also run my equipment off of battery backup units with avr and really nice surge clamping characteristics UPC and Cyberpower make nice units that stops that third order harmonic feedback wipe out thru your power in case of a strike

well this is just my poormans attempt to protect my equipment

Cheers BTM

"BTM" wrote in message
...

Kevin Muenzler, WB5RUE Wrote:
"jim" wrote in message
...-
Jan Panteltje wrote:
-
I had the new GPA behind the house up last week....
To make sure I had the best SWR and best signal, I use thick coax,
and
left out the coupling piece I had that I used to disconnect in case
lighting was expected.
The weather report was good, with a drop of rain, and the sky was--
clear....--
I went to sleep.
At 3.25 last night I woke up because of an incredible flash and
BANG.
Thought "have to buy new gear now, pity..." hehe).
LOL
But nothing was smoking, counted seconds between flashes (more now),
it was overhead alright.
But my neighbor (50 meters away) has a higher mast.
Anyway, it started raining, usually there is enough conductive path
then
for it not no strike, I went outside in pyamas, waited for a flash,
(clouds take time to charge up again) and cut the coax, folded it
back,
so there was some meters separation.
Went to bed again, noticed I was wet...
Just now I put some connecters and a coupling piece, so that is
fixed.
So, anyways the sky is clear and the sun shines, and the SWR is
slightly
better now...
But now I am thinking 'lightning detector', I know these exist, was
it--
not--
a simple ferrite rod with a detector (for low frequencies)?
Does anyone here use these?
Good diagrams?
I should google anyways....

Anyways I made some other changes too, I am now running the set from
a--
12 Ah--
12V gel battery,
It is charged continously with an AC/DC adapter, no large power
supplies--
needed.--
and I can use things when electricity fails, say in case of
flooding.

_________________________________________
Usenet Zone Free Binaries Usenet Server
More than 140,000 groups
Unlimited download
http://www.usenetzone.com to open account-
all the work to set up a station and no lightning protection scheme?
there are many ways to protect the equipment including gas discharge
kit. any surge protection on the ac input?-


Nothing that would be worth buying to protect a CB rig will stop a
direct
strike. A direct strike will vaporize a gas discharge kit on its way
to
your radio. But then if you want to spend a few thousand dollars you
can
get direct-strike protection.

Kevin, WB5RUE




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News==----
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120,000+ Newsgroups
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=----
I know nothing really will stop a direct strike but the more 90 degree
turns you can make with you coax before entry the better! lightning
doesnt like 90 degree angles, also i bring my coax all the way to the
ground with a gas discharge unit at its lowest point then 90 back up to
entry,most likely a drop in the bucket but ive never been wiped out. I
also have 15 or so ground rods spread every 4 ft connected with
stranded bare #6 then i covered it with dirt most of this is for field
ground but field ground should be bonded to antenna ground always and
is in my case, also bond them to your service ground,i also run my
equipment off of battery backup units with avr and really nice surge
clamping characteristics UPC and Cyberpower make nice units that stops
that third order harmonic feedback wipe out thru your power in case of
a strike

well this is just my poormans attempt to protect my equipment

Cheers BTM

Yeah, and Santa Claus ate the cookies too. Lightning will take whatever
path is there no matter how complex. It will go right through your gas
discharge and Cyberpower UPS.
Remember this spark has just traveled several miles to get to you. A few
inches of gas or plastic isn't even going to slow it down.

Kevin, WB5RUE



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----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

//snip//
I know nothing really will stop a direct strike but the more 90 degree
turns you can make with you coax before entry the better! lightning
doesnt like 90 degree angles, also i bring my coax all the way to the
ground with a gas discharge unit at its lowest point then 90 back up to
entry,most likely a drop in the bucket but ive never been wiped out. I
also have 15 or so ground rods spread every 4 ft connected with
stranded bare #6 then i covered it with dirt most of this is for field
ground but field ground should be bonded to antenna ground always and
is in my case, also bond them to your service ground,i also run my
equipment off of battery backup units with avr and really nice surge
clamping characteristics UPC and Cyberpower make nice units that stops
that third order harmonic feedback wipe out thru your power in case of
a strike

well this is just my poormans attempt to protect my equipment

Cheers BTM

Yeah, and Santa Claus ate the cookies too. Lightning will take whatever
path is there no matter how complex. It will go right through your gas
discharge and Cyberpower UPS.
Remember this spark has just traveled several miles to get to you. A few
inches of gas or plastic isn't even going to slow it down.

Kevin, WB5RUE

I completely agree with Kevin. The only benefit these extra gadgets have is
if there is a close strike and it helps to reject stray voltage from the
bolt. Ive had two TV sets go down due to this, you can tell the
difference... the stray voltage from a bolt of lightning will pop components
on a board... a direct hit will make it explode... The only way to protect
your equipment is to disconnect it AND either move the co-ax away or the
radio itself. It doesnt help much disconnecting it and leaving it an inch
from the radio.
Regards,
Graham

"Kevin Muenzler, WB5RUE" wrote in message
...

"jim" wrote in message
...
Jan Panteltje wrote:

I had the new GPA behind the house up last week....
To make sure I had the best SWR and best signal, I use thick coax, and
left out the coupling piece I had that I used to disconnect in case
lighting was expected.
The weather report was good, with a drop of rain, and the sky was
clear....
I went to sleep.
At 3.25 last night I woke up because of an incredible flash and BANG.
Thought "have to buy new gear now, pity..." hehe).
LOL
But nothing was smoking, counted seconds between flashes (more now),
it was overhead alright.
But my neighbor (50 meters away) has a higher mast.
Anyway, it started raining, usually there is enough conductive path
then
for it not no strike, I went outside in pyamas, waited for a flash,
(clouds take time to charge up again) and cut the coax, folded it back,
so there was some meters separation.
Went to bed again, noticed I was wet...
Just now I put some connecters and a coupling piece, so that is fixed.
So, anyways the sky is clear and the sun shines, and the SWR is
slightly
better now...
But now I am thinking 'lightning detector', I know these exist, was it
not
a simple ferrite rod with a detector (for low frequencies)?
Does anyone here use these?
Good diagrams?
I should google anyways....

Anyways I made some other changes too, I am now running the set from a
12 Ah
12V gel battery,
It is charged continously with an AC/DC adapter, no large power
supplies
needed.
and I can use things when electricity fails, say in case of flooding.

PolyPhasers do work They have done a good job of protecting all the
broadcast equipment I have installed over the years and they have protected
many ham and CB rigs also.

http://www.polyphaser.com/kommerce_p...px?class=M0044

Chad

On a sunny day (Wed, 28 Sep 2005 10:07:43 -0500) it happened "Chad Wahls"
wrote in :

yPhasers do work They have done a good job of protecting all the
broadcast equipment I have installed over the years and they have protected
many ham and CB rigs also.

http://www.polyphaser.com/kommerce_p...px?class=M0044

Chad
Hi Chad, thank you! lots of info on that site.
I just did read this:
http://www.polyphaser.com/ppc_TD1016.aspx
and it gives me some good ideas how to do things.

"Jan Panteltje" wrote in message
news:1127926193.6d66811f87a46474e518cebaf7e7d146@t eranews...
On a sunny day (Wed, 28 Sep 2005 10:07:43 -0500) it happened "Chad Wahls"
wrote in :

yPhasers do work They have done a good job of protecting all the
broadcast equipment I have installed over the years and they have
protected
many ham and CB rigs also.

http://www.polyphaser.com/kommerce_p...px?class=M0044

Chad
Hi Chad, thank you! lots of info on that site.
I just did read this:
http://www.polyphaser.com/ppc_TD1016.aspx
and it gives me some good ideas how to do things.

A direct strike will vaporize that little box. Not to dis polyphaser, they
make some excellent products all up and down the line but those discharge
tubes WILL NOT protect against a direct strike. NONE, NADA.

Kevin, WB5RUE



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