I'm new to scanning and am interested in using a Discone type antenna I
bought on Ebay. I'm going to be feeding my Yeasu VR-500 handheld scanner
with it. I live in Central Florida (Lightning Capital of the World, or so
it seems) and need info about isolating (grounding) the antenna. I am very
concerned about lightning entering my home via the antenna feed.

Can someone give me a URL for info about using (and isolating) antennas, or
a good book title that I can buy? TIA.

Rob
Pull the plug to reply via email...

http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/2775/gndsys.html

mike

"Rob Gibson" wrote in message
...
I'm new to scanning and am interested in using a Discone type antenna I
bought on Ebay. I'm going to be feeding my Yeasu VR-500 handheld scanner
with it. I live in Central Florida (Lightning Capital of the World, or so
it seems) and need info about isolating (grounding) the antenna. I am
very
concerned about lightning entering my home via the antenna feed.

Can someone give me a URL for info about using (and isolating) antennas,
or
a good book title that I can buy? TIA.

Rob
Pull the plug to reply via email...


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Rob

I live south of Tampa at an elevation of 12 feet and 300 yards from the
Gulf. I used the method described in the web page
that Mike posted. I "hydraulically" sunk a 1/2" copper water pipe to a depth
of 14+ feet right at the base of my antenna pole.
I bought two 10 feet pieces and when the first piece was as deep as it would
go, I soldered the second piece on and went as deep as I could push it.
I then cut it off about 6 inches above the ground and soldered bare solid
copper wire (gauge? fattest home depot had) between
the ground rod and antenna mast.
I did not weather protect this soldered connection as the article suggested.
(I may redo it at some point and then weather protect it).

I've been thinking about adding a coaxial surge protector to my receivers
feed line such as this one:
http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...tect/1305.html

I plan to add a second ground for connection to the back of my radio (an
Icom PCR 1000, which has
a ground screw)

If your extremely concerned about lighting coming in the feed line, I
suppose you could
solder a bnc connector to a copper conductor that is connected to a ground
rod. That way
when you disconnect the feed line from the radio you could store it by
connecting it to this ground.

I don't understand grounding all that well, just that for safety it needs
to be done.





"mike" wrote in message
...
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/2775/gndsys.html

mike

"Rob Gibson" wrote in message
...
I'm new to scanning and am interested in using a Discone type antenna I
bought on Ebay. I'm going to be feeding my Yeasu VR-500 handheld scanner
with it. I live in Central Florida (Lightning Capital of the World, or
so
it seems) and need info about isolating (grounding) the antenna. I am
very
concerned about lightning entering my home via the antenna feed.

Can someone give me a URL for info about using (and isolating) antennas,
or
a good book title that I can buy? TIA.

Rob
Pull the plug to reply via email...


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
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"Bruce Robertson" wrote in message
...

...I then cut it off about 6 inches above the ground and soldered bare
solid
copper wire (gauge? fattest home depot had) between
the ground rod and antenna mast.
I did not weather protect this soldered connection as the article
suggested.
(I may redo it at some point and then weather protect it).


Just a thought here, but did you drill any holes in the pipe to insert the
wire into before soldering? My thinking is that if the wire is just
soldered to the outside of the pipe (without any other means of holding the
wire attached to the pipe,) that should a lightning strike ever happen, the
intense heat from the huge amount of electrical discharge may just melt the
solder and allow the wire to become detached from the grounding pipe. This
would effectively make the whole setup useless...

Soldering is a good idea, however, there should be another means to insure
that the wire remains attached (as long as possible) should the solder
melt...

PH

TBH if the lightening is so strong that it 'could' melt solder (more like
blast it!) nothing is going to stop it, the copper pipe will evaporate
anyway. so i think it's a be immaterial! (pun intended!)

just whilst on another old wives tale, don't forget if you do run around
disconnecting coaxes to radio & things during an electrical storm....don't
just reconnect them after it has passed by..you stand more chance of
damaging things that way as the coax will be holding quite a nice charge,
just waiting for you to discharge it through the radio when you reconnect!
get a nice block of metal or dexion or WHY and mount the opposite gender
connector to it and then short all centre & outer pins, then ground that to
a water or radiator pipe (as long as it is metal!!)

that's another good way of grounding the radio in the shack also, i found my
radiator pipe had a better impedance than my earth stake!!

mike G7BNF


"PowerHouse Communications" wrote in message
...

"Bruce Robertson" wrote in message
...

...I then cut it off about 6 inches above the ground and soldered bare
solid
copper wire (gauge? fattest home depot had) between
the ground rod and antenna mast.
I did not weather protect this soldered connection as the article
suggested.
(I may redo it at some point and then weather protect it).


Just a thought here, but did you drill any holes in the pipe to insert the
wire into before soldering? My thinking is that if the wire is just
soldered to the outside of the pipe (without any other means of holding
the
wire attached to the pipe,) that should a lightning strike ever happen,
the
intense heat from the huge amount of electrical discharge may just melt
the
solder and allow the wire to become detached from the grounding pipe.
This
would effectively make the whole setup useless...

Soldering is a good idea, however, there should be another means to insure
that the wire remains attached (as long as possible) should the solder
melt...

PH




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On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 13:33:41 -0500, "PowerHouse Communications"
said in rec.radio.scanner:

Just a thought here, but did you drill any holes in the pipe to insert the
wire into before soldering? My thinking is that if the wire is just
soldered to the outside of the pipe (without any other means of holding the
wire attached to the pipe,) that should a lightning strike ever happen, the
intense heat from the huge amount of electrical discharge may just melt the
solder and allow the wire to become detached from the grounding pipe.

In the event of a direct lightning strike, the wire, the pipe (the
mast and antenna too) will disappear.

"Lightning protection" will protect the radio from static buildup from
nearby strikes, rain (raindrops carry a charge), etc. Don't *E*V*E*R*
think that you or your radio are "protected" against lightning by a
flimsy 6 inch thick piece of copper, let alone by a piece of wire, no
matter how thick. A lightning bolt is *at least* a few thousand volts
and a few thousand amps. (Yes, that's a MILLIONS of watts - for each
full strike.) The temperatures approach that of the sun.

Not impressed yet?

I've seen a well-"protected" commercial broadcast antenna (the gap
balls were about a foot in diameter each, grounded by solid rods a few
inches in diameter - no mere "wire") turn into a blackened concrete
base with 4 holes in it (where the tower legs had been), so don't
think that anything you install will do better. If you assume that a
direct strike to the antenna will kill you if the cable is still
connected to the scanner, you'll live a lot longer.

The last thing anyone wants is a link to a newspaper article telling
us how some hobbyist died from a lightning strike to his antenna.

I remember when I was a kid a CB was in its prime in the 70's. My Dad would
disconnect the coax and put the end in a soda (or beer) bottle when there
was a storm around. He believed that the lightning coudn't get out of the
bottle. Fortunately, we never took a direct hit although the campground next
door did. That seemed to rumble for 10 minutes.
Also I remember a house with 3 camps on the same well. Lightning hit the
water pipe connected between them, traveled into the main house and came out
the water faucet in the kitchen. It connected with the breaker box on an
adjacent wall bout 12 feet away. I didn't experience it, and I am glad I
wasn't in the same room.
I drove wrecker for a while and a bolt hit a tree and tore the bark off like
string cheese. There was a car parked next to it over the root system and
melted holes in the front tires, and wiped out the electrical system. I was
impressed.
A ham (SK) well versed and studied in lightning realized that when
installing a lightning protection system on a structure using a pointed rod
(sharpened like a pencil) will dissipate static electricity well. The rod
itself will not pass the voltage or amperage of the lightning because of the
diameter of the point. This does not mean it won't hit the side of the rod
or the cable that is grounding it, but it might keep it out of the house.
A lightning protecttion system is like a fire sprinkler system. It cannot
prevent the event, but it can have an effect on the frequency (lightning) or
severity (fire).

There is no way to prevent a lightning strike, so remember to think out of
the box when attempting to prevent lightning. A little arrestor inline with
your coax will not keep lightning from entering via your coax, only
disconnecting anything wired from your house will deter it. It is
conceivable but extremely difficult to disconnect the AC power entering the
building, but disconnecting the cable tv, phone, etc is a start and will
help if someone is that obsessive.

WC


"Al Klein" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 13:33:41 -0500, "PowerHouse Communications"
said in rec.radio.scanner:

Just a thought here, but did you drill any holes in the pipe to insert
the
wire into before soldering? My thinking is that if the wire is just
soldered to the outside of the pipe (without any other means of holding
the
wire attached to the pipe,) that should a lightning strike ever happen,
the
intense heat from the huge amount of electrical discharge may just melt
the
solder and allow the wire to become detached from the grounding pipe.

In the event of a direct lightning strike, the wire, the pipe (the
mast and antenna too) will disappear.

"Lightning protection" will protect the radio from static buildup from
nearby strikes, rain (raindrops carry a charge), etc. Don't *E*V*E*R*
think that you or your radio are "protected" against lightning by a
flimsy 6 inch thick piece of copper, let alone by a piece of wire, no
matter how thick. A lightning bolt is *at least* a few thousand volts
and a few thousand amps. (Yes, that's a MILLIONS of watts - for each
full strike.) The temperatures approach that of the sun.

Not impressed yet?

I've seen a well-"protected" commercial broadcast antenna (the gap
balls were about a foot in diameter each, grounded by solid rods a few
inches in diameter - no mere "wire") turn into a blackened concrete
base with 4 holes in it (where the tower legs had been), so don't
think that anything you install will do better. If you assume that a
direct strike to the antenna will kill you if the cable is still
connected to the scanner, you'll live a lot longer.

The last thing anyone wants is a link to a newspaper article telling
us how some hobbyist died from a lightning strike to his antenna.

On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 12:34:05 -0500, Rob Gibson
wrote:

Can someone give me a URL for info about using (and isolating) antennas, or
a good book title that I can buy? TIA.

Read the article on grounding radio installations he

http://www.swssec.com/white_paper.html

Regards ... Steve


************************************************** *******************
Steve Uhrig, SWS Security, Maryland (USA)
Mfrs of electronic surveillance equip
website http://www.swssec.com
tel +1+410-879-4035, fax +1+410-836-1190
"In God we trust, all others we monitor"
************************************************** *******************

Rob Gibson wrote:
I'm new to scanning and am interested in using a Discone type antenna I
bought on Ebay. I'm going to be feeding my Yeasu VR-500 handheld scanner
with it. I live in Central Florida (Lightning Capital of the World, or so
it seems) and need info about isolating (grounding) the antenna. I am very
concerned about lightning entering my home via the antenna feed.

Can someone give me a URL for info about using (and isolating) antennas, or
a good book title that I can buy? TIA.

Rob
Pull the plug to reply via email...

Start from here

http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/se...uery=grounding