AD5TH Tower Project Completed - Pics Online
 

I've been following this for a week or so and I've read all the posts
that made it to my ISP on the subject. I won't re-iterate the concerns
voiced by others in this forum, but I would like to add a couple of
points in addition to those already brought up.

I looked up his address from QRZ.com and plotted it on Google Earth,
then referenced location to the lightning-days map found in the
Wireman's Fourth Edition Wire Book. If that chart is correct, his area
of the state gets somewhere on average of 80-100 days a year with
lightning. Above average, that's for sure.

Luke said :

Take a closer look at his photos !
snip
Inadaquate ground wires from guy cables to ground rods.
The trees or light pole will explode is the cables take a hit.
Same for the tower ground wires, insufficient not to NEC specs.

That grounding setup is a joke, and a bad one at that. At the VERY
LEAST, ground each leg to it's own 8 to 10' ground rod, tie all three
together, and tie THAT circle to the service ground with 2/0 cable.

Let's also look at his feedlines while we're at it. It runs at a sharp
angle from the tower to a high point on the house, then right along
under the roof. From everything I've ever read, that's probably the
worst way to run cables from a lightning perspective. I've always been
of the opinion that one should run cables straight to ground-level,
make a nice big gentle 360-degree loop, then route at ground-level to
the station, or buried. in pipe, etc., and preferably with another
gentle 360-degree loop.

Judging by the rest of the pictures, I think it may be a safe bet that
those cable ties are of the 2000-for-$5 variety, and not UV-resistant,
so wait a couple of years (if the whole kit-n-kaboodle lasts that
long), and see how well they hold.

I read this gentleman's entry on QRZ.com, and he proudly mentions his
lovely wife, kids and grand-kids. For their sake, and for the love of
all that's good and right, I implore Mr. Johnston to please consider
their safety if they reside at this location. It's one thing to
Darwinate yourself in a somewhat spectacular manner of your own
concoction, but it would be a terrible shame to see harm come to these
innocent folks because of a few (dozen) shortcuts that were taken in
pursuit of a hobby.

There are hundreds, if not *thousands* of Web sites that give good
advice on setting up a tower, even a modest one with realtively-small
antennas on it. I sincerely hope Mr. Johnston avails himself of the
advice given on them, and here.

As an after-thought, I was looking at this evening's track map of
Hurricane Dennis....this whole thread may be moot by now!

73 de Peter, W2IRT
(ex-AB2NZ, VE3THX)

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