Michael A. Terrell wrote (in part)

Really? A friend of mine makes over half his income from repairing
lightning damaged radio stations here in Florida. While I was the
engineer at WACX TV lightning hit their studio building in Leesburg
Florida. It took ot the entire telephone system, the main computer,
all
the terminals, all the LNAs on the C-band dish, most of the receivers
.....
--------------------------
I have done lots of contract work in area TV and radio (AM and FM)
stations. I have been inside working during seeral T-storms. Other
then the joy of having florescent lamps that are not turned on act like

strobes, and having the power dip for a moment, MOST of the time
there was no damge, to anything other then my nerves.

I know that commercial broadcaster can and do experience damage,
but most ot the time strikes don't damage anything. One local station
gets struck "every" time it clouds up and they go years without damage.

Of course the ham repeater there doesn't fair as well.
Funny the commercial 2 way radio repeaters have about as few
problems as the broadcaster. Of course the commercial boys
use Polyphaser protectors and the,the last time I checked,
had another make of "lightning/EMP" protection.

Same make antennas, hardline and grounding system, just different
protection.

That was proof enough for me.

If I gave the impression that I thought that Polyphaser clamps and a
good ground system will prevent damage, sorry, but it will certainly
reduce
the damage and increase the years of trouble free operation.


Terry

Michael Terrell cries, "Woe is me. Nothing can prevent
lightning damage." Meanwhile professionals learn from human
mistakes and routinely prevent lightning damage:
Richard Harrison posts on 7 May 2001 in the newsgroup
rec.radio.amateur.antenna entitled "Grounding Question -
Connecting to Power Ground":
Early in 1949 I started work in broadcasting. I worked in three
stations in that year, KPRC, KXYZ, and KTHT. The first two were
built in the 1930`s and KTHT was about one year old when I went
to work there in 1949.

None of these stations ever suffered lightning damage when
taking many direct hits during every year. In fact they only
dropped from the air for an instant, to extinguish any
follow-through arcing when hit, and were returned to the air
automatically following an arc kill.

In 1949 there were already thousands of AM broadcast stations.
Some were improperly protected against lightninmg, but the vast
majority, like the stations I worked at, were almost perfectly
protected against lightning damage, and so it was almost
unheard of.

Ben Franklin figured how to protect structures against lightning
over 200 years ago. The rest is just elaboration.

Or http://www.harvardrepeater.org/news/lightning.html
Well I assert, from personal and broadcast experience spanning
30 years, that you can design a system that will handle *direct
lightning strikes* on a routine basis. It takes some planning
and careful layout, but it's not hard, nor is it overly
expensive. At WXIA-TV, my other job, we take direct lightning
strikes nearly every time there's a thunderstorm. Our downtime
from such strikes is almost non-existant. The last time we
went down from a strike, it was due to a strike on the power
company's lines knocking *them* out, ...
Since my disasterous strike, I've been campaigning vigorously
to educate amateurs that you *can* avoid damage from direct
strikes. The belief that there's no protection from direct
strike damage is *myth*. ...
The keys to effective lightning protection are surprisingly
simple, and surprisingly less than obvious. Of course you
*must* have a single point ground system that eliminates all
ground loops. And you must present a low *impedance* path for
the energy to go. That's most generally a low *inductance*
path rather than just a low ohm DC path.

And even from Sun Microsystems "Planning guide for Sun
Server room":
http://www.sun.com/servers/white-pap...ning-guide.pdf
Lightning surges cannot be stopped, but they can be diverted.
The plans for the data center should be thoroughly reviewed
to identify any paths for surge entry into the data center.
Surge arrestors can be designed into the system to help
mitigate the potential for lightning damage within the data
center. These should divert the power of the surge by
providing a path to ground for the surge energy.

Did Michael Terrell cite technical facts? Of course not.
Others here have posted how damage is routinely avoided.
Thank you Michael for your insults. When do you provide a
single reason why this well proven science does not work? Its
been a few years. When do you provide one good technical
reason?

Others who learned from lightning damage eliminate a failure
rather than just replace electronics. Michael endorses
failure as if it was situation normal. Even children are
taught not to be quitters. Damage from direct lightning
strikes is routinely avoided.

So which week was Michael's town without phone service while
the telco switching computer was replaced? Oh? They don't
disconnect that computer from overhead wires everywhere in
town during thunderstorms? How can that be when Michael says
protection is not effective?

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:
Do you write this drivel every time, or do you copy and past it?
Once again, your knowledge of a number of systems is evident. I have
seen a lot of damaged telco equipment. In fact, I've been in the Sprint
warehouse in Eustis, Florida where they had skids full of lightning
damaged circuit boards being sold as scrap. If the wire is never
damaged, why do they build their plant with extra pairs? Those pairs
are exempt from tariffs, as long as they are only used to replace a
damaged pair. I lost my underground phone line when lighting struck an
old barn on our property. We had a light out there, so lightning got
into our electrical service. Everything critical was on plug in MOV
protectors and they all survived. The lightning jumped from the
underground power line to Sprint's buried line which they had installed
a few inches from the existing buried power line. The pair of wires was
vaporized to the street which was over a mile. It wiped out the line
card in the pedestal, and the pair back to the CO was damaged. All 16
customers fed by that pair had excessive noise on their phones so they
had to switch to one of the spare pairs. That lightning strike did
thousands of dollars worth of damage to their equipment, and took weeks
to fix. Now, tell us again that Telcos don't suffer lightning damage.

Go away! Your weird! We don't want to talk to you Mr. Electro Troll.

B.H.

Over in alt.guitar.bass, as CreepieDeCrapper posted in
http://tinyurl.com/dpvxj :
Speak for yourselves...i think i'm acutally learning
something from all this

Brian Running wrote:
He showed up in a bass player's newsgroup a couple of months ago with
endless, rambling posts about power conditioning and voltage-spike
protection -- just tons of unintelligible gibberish, cut and pasted
without any sense or conclusion. He avoided every question posed to him
with more loads of gibberish. Weird guy, but some people are taken in
by his quasi-knowledgeable tone.

What some of you people don't see is that during most thunder storms
here in central Florida there can be an average lightning strikes in
the thousands for each storm. Not your typical anywhere else in the US.
That being said, there is no protection from a direct hit. Never was
and never will be( affordable anyway). You can protect from near hits
though through proper grounding. Heck, when I lived in northern
Michigan I would get a static charge from a snow storm at times.
Protect as well as can be done affordable and then rely on you
homeowners policy to pick up the pieces. After all, thats why you
bought insurance isn't it?


Yeah Mike, we're getting some things together again but I'm not going
for a generator yet, just canned goods and LP tanks and batteries etc.
I guess we should board up in June and take the boards off in December.
Makes for a dark summer ;-p

Most lightning strikes remain in the sky - are not CG type.
It is the CG (cloud to ground) type lightning that causes
electronics damage. Typically, the resulting destructive
transient occurs about once every eight years. In Central
Florida, this number is higher. I have seen estimates of once
every two years.

But this is a regional average. Other conditions such as
underlying geology change this number for neighborhoods and
even between homes. To better determine a threat risk, one
should learn the neighborhood history.

Regionally, FL has some of the higher number of CG
lightning. But WV has some of the highest numbers 'per
thunderstorm'. Another region of concern is a large area
between AZ and NM. The mid west may have spectacular
thunderstorms, but the frequency of CG lightning in this
region is low.

No One You Know wrote:
What some of you people don't see is that during most thunder storms
here in central Florida there can be an average lightning strikes in
the thousands for each storm. Not your typical anywhere else in the US.
That being said, there is no protection from a direct hit. Never was
and never will be( affordable anyway). You can protect from near hits
though through proper grounding. Heck, when I lived in northern
Michigan I would get a static charge from a snow storm at times.
Protect as well as can be done affordable and then rely on you
homeowners policy to pick up the pieces. After all, thats why you
bought insurance isn't it?

Yeah Mike, we're getting some things together again but I'm not going
for a generator yet, just canned goods and LP tanks and batteries etc.
I guess we should board up in June and take the boards off in December.
Makes for a dark summer ;-p

w_tom wrote:

Michael Terrell cries, "Woe is me. Nothing can prevent
lightning damage." Meanwhile professionals learn from human
mistakes and routinely prevent lightning damage:
Richard Harrison posts on 7 May 2001 in the newsgroup
rec.radio.amateur.antenna entitled "Grounding Question -
Connecting to Power Ground":
Early in 1949 I started work in broadcasting. I worked in three
stations in that year, KPRC, KXYZ, and KTHT. The first two were
built in the 1930`s and KTHT was about one year old when I went
to work there in 1949.

None of these stations ever suffered lightning damage when
taking many direct hits during every year. In fact they only
dropped from the air for an instant, to extinguish any
follow-through arcing when hit, and were returned to the air
automatically following an arc kill.

In 1949 there were already thousands of AM broadcast stations.
Some were improperly protected against lightninmg, but the vast
majority, like the stations I worked at, were almost perfectly
protected against lightning damage, and so it was almost
unheard of.

Ben Franklin figured how to protect structures against lightning
over 200 years ago. The rest is just elaboration.


Poor ole Ben got SOME things right. Others were as wrong as you
are. Early lightning rods caused damage because they didn't understand
how they really worked, or how to properly install them. Have you ever
seen an old building burn down after lightning hit the old "Franklin
Style" lightning rods? Have you seen the way the sections were
connected together with no consideration of minimizing and maintaining a
very low resistance at each connection? The heavy twisted braid used
where the rod across the roof tuned sharply to go down the side of the
building? Yes sir! Ole Ben sure know how to attract lightning and that
was all. The rest of the system was a hack.

Or http://www.harvardrepeater.org/news/lightning.html
Well I assert, from personal and broadcast experience spanning
30 years, that you can design a system that will handle *direct
lightning strikes* on a routine basis. It takes some planning
and careful layout, but it's not hard, nor is it overly
expensive. At WXIA-TV, my other job, we take direct lightning
strikes nearly every time there's a thunderstorm. Our downtime
from such strikes is almost non-existant. The last time we
went down from a strike, it was due to a strike on the power
company's lines knocking *them* out, ...

A TV tower is fully grounded, and generally heavier than an AM radio
tower which is insulated from ground and depends on a pair of large
balls to make the lightning arc to ground. I used to have what was left
of a set that was hit too many times and shattered.

Since my disasterous strike, I've been campaigning vigorously
to educate amateurs that you *can* avoid damage from direct
strikes. The belief that there's no protection from direct
strike damage is *myth*. ...
The keys to effective lightning protection are surprisingly
simple, and surprisingly less than obvious. Of course you
*must* have a single point ground system that eliminates all
ground loops. And you must present a low *impedance* path for
the energy to go. That's most generally a low *inductance*
path rather than just a low ohm DC path.

And even from Sun Microsystems "Planning guide for Sun
Server room":
http://www.sun.com/servers/white-pap...ning-guide.pdf
Lightning surges cannot be stopped, but they can be diverted.
The plans for the data center should be thoroughly reviewed
to identify any paths for surge entry into the data center.
Surge arrestors can be designed into the system to help
mitigate the potential for lightning damage within the data
center. These should divert the power of the surge by
providing a path to ground for the surge energy.

Did Michael Terrell cite technical facts? Of course not.
Others here have posted how damage is routinely avoided.
Thank you Michael for your insults. When do you provide a
single reason why this well proven science does not work? Its
been a few years. When do you provide one good technical
reason?

I have cited a lot of things in the past, and you've always ignored
them. You've been spreading the party line of lies for years, ignoring
every statement and reference.

Here you are parroting other people's data. You did not do the
research, or the actual work. I'm surprised you didn't toss in "The
Empire State building" as usual. You refuse to accept that grounding
systems deteriorate with age, or can be damaged. WLBE in Lake County
Florida lost most of their antenna grounding system when a mall was
built next door. The workers crossed the property line with a bulldozer
and ripped out half of the buried 4" copper strapping. The antennas sit
on two platforms in a marsh and can be hit repeatedly during a single
storm. In fact, it doesn't even have to storm to see and hear the bolt
strike one, or both towers. Over time something fails. I asked the
engineer to go on line and tell you himself but Frank simply laughed and
said that you were too damn stupid to know what he was talking about. I
think he's right. You've never worked here in Florida, or seen the
damage caused by repeated strikes on a single structure in a short time
frame. Pieces of steel warped from the high current flow, or other
equipment damaged by induced current from the EMP. You are a troll. On
the atomic chart you would be Hydrogen. You are stupid, pig headed, and
a pimple on the ass of Usenet. You only care about pushing your
harebrained agenda. You refuse to listen to those with experience.


Yes there are things that can be done to reduce lightning damage.
Yes, systems fail. Nothing man-made is perfect, nor will it ever be. As
long as you keep spreading your lies and half truths, people will call
you on it. You are not only stupid, you're dangerous.

Others who learned from lightning damage eliminate a failure
rather than just replace electronics. Michael endorses
failure as if it was situation normal. Even children are
taught not to be quitters. Damage from direct lightning
strikes is routinely avoided.


I have tried several times in the past to explain induced secondary
damage, but it bounces right off your thick skull. It doesn't fit your
agenda so you ignore it.

So which week was Michael's town without phone service while
the telco switching computer was replaced? Oh? They don't
disconnect that computer from overhead wires everywhere in
town during thunderstorms? How can that be when Michael says
protection is not effective?


Once again, you are telling a big ole pack of lies. I stated that a
pair in a buried line from my house to the equipment pedestal a mile
away was vaporized, that the cards on that line were fried, and that the
pair from the equipment pedestal to the CO was damaged so bad they had
to abandon it, and replace the interface card at the CO. You are as
dense as the operator at Sprint who had to yell over the static on the
damaged pair to ask "Are you sure there is something wrong with your
telephone service?". It is you that spreads the lie that telephone
equipment is never damaged by lightning.

I never said the whole town was without phone service. On the other
hand, one whole exchange (10,000 phone numbers) was out of service for
about 24 hours back in the '80s after a storm. The contractor didn't
assemble the buss bars properly, a pinhole leak dripped into the buss
duct and it exploded. The idiots had assembled the buss bars with zinc
plated bolts and the damage was so bad they had to replace most of the
buss bars, and replace the zinc plated steel bolts with the proper brass
bolts.


--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Yes, an improperly installed lightning rod can cause damage
.... because the human has failed to install or maintain the
most critical component in a lightning protection system:
earth ground. So what is Michael's point? Whether it be
lightning rod or radio station or telephone central office
switching station. They all suffer direct lightning strikes
and must not suffer damage. Protection is defined by quality
of and connection to earth ground which is why properly
earthed facilities need not suffer damage.

Bulldozers rip out a ground system for a radio station.
That proves that lightning damage cannot be avoided? That
demonstrates why lightning damage is due to human failure.
Yes grounding systems can also deteriorate with age. If a
human does not maintain it, then lightning damage can occur.
Human failure. Protection is only as good as its earth
ground. So what is your point? That one should quit because
lightning damage is unavoidable?

I was building surge protectors decades ago. Some
unfortunate failures. Some spectacular successes. One never
resolved mystery. One fact was consistently demonstrated and
repeated by industry professionals even in IEEE papers.
Protection is only as effective as its earth ground. By your
own examples, inferior earth grounds can result in damage.
Improper connections of a lightning rod to its earth ground
caused failure. So what? Inferior earth grounds are examples
of human failure. Earthing defines protection from lightning.

Michael Terrell demonstrates that damage occurs when the
human does not install or maintain sufficient earthing.
However since protection might not be large enough for the
rare 200K amp lightning strike, then we should never bother
with any protection? What kind of reasoning is that?

Most all lightning strikes do so little damage as to not
even leave indications on trees. Even 12 AWG wire (20 amp
wire inside walls) is more than sufficient to earth most
direct lightning strikes. But we install even heavier wire
and earthing grounds to lightning rods so that even larger
direct strikes cause no damage. In many locations, human do
not install protection for the 200,000 amp strike because such
strikes just don't happen. Where it does happen, the earthing
system is enhanced. Even in Central FL, professionals have
installed earthing systems to make damage irrelevant. Humans
also fix the earthing systems when bulldozers rip it out
because proper earthing is that essential to protection.

For locations with no protection, even a single 8 foot earth
ground rod is a massive improvement. Again repeating the
point. Protection is only as good as the earth ground.
Damage from lightning is directly traceable to human failure.
In locations where a human will never see a 200K lightning
strike in his lifetime (which is most places), then even a
simple eight foot earth ground rod is sufficient. But should
earthing need be marginally improved, then size and cost of
that earthing system increases quickly.

Others fixed their earthing systems and stopped suffering
damage in Central FL. That is the point. Eliminating damage
starts with and is defined by the quality of earth ground and
connections to it. Even 25 strike per year to TV and FM
stations on the Empire State Building need not cause damage -
which is where much of the original research was conducted.
Michael Terrell says that is wrong because humans will not
maintain their earthing systems? Quitters logic.

Michael promotes a quitters attitude. Yes, a lightning
protection system may fail to earth an extremely rare 200,000
amp strike. Yes, most locations don't protect from the 200K
lightning strike because such lightning never occurs. So
what? Therefore he advocate no protection? Why advocate a
quitters attitude? Protection is defined by earth ground.
Properly installed earthing systems can even earth 200K
lightning strikes. But a damaged earth ground system means
damage can occur. Damage avoided if the earthing system been
repaired and was sufficient.

Other radio stations in central FL addressed earthing
problems and don't experience repeated failures. Central FL
requires even better earthing systems. Maybe they also
maintain their earthing systems? How can that be? Well some
humans accept failure as situation normal. Others fix problems
before failure occurs. Some may even insult to prove their
point. But those other radio stations fixed their problems
rather than just repeatedly replace the phone system. They
did not take on a quitter's attitude. They addressed the
solution starting with a most critical system component -
earth ground. One that was sufficient for Central FL.

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:
Poor ole Ben got SOME things right. Others were as wrong as you
are. Early lightning rods caused damage because they didn't understand
how they really worked, or how to properly install them. Have you ever
seen an old building burn down after lightning hit the old "Franklin
Style" lightning rods? Have you seen the way the sections were
connected together with no consideration of minimizing and maintaining a
very low resistance at each connection? The heavy twisted braid used
where the rod across the roof tuned sharply to go down the side of the
building? Yes sir! Ole Ben sure know how to attract lightning and that
was all. The rest of the system was a hack.

Or http://www.harvardrepeater.org/news/lightning.html
Well I assert, from personal and broadcast experience spanning
30 years, that you can design a system that will handle *direct
lightning strikes* on a routine basis. It takes some planning
and careful layout, but it's not hard, nor is it overly
expensive. At WXIA-TV, my other job, we take direct lightning
strikes nearly every time there's a thunderstorm. Our downtime
from such strikes is almost non-existant. The last time we
went down from a strike, it was due to a strike on the power
company's lines knocking *them* out, ...

A TV tower is fully grounded, and generally heavier than an AM radio
tower which is insulated from ground and depends on a pair of large
balls to make the lightning arc to ground. I used to have what was left
of a set that was hit too many times and shattered.

Since my disasterous strike, I've been campaigning vigorously
to educate amateurs that you *can* avoid damage from direct
strikes. The belief that there's no protection from direct
strike damage is *myth*. ...
The keys to effective lightning protection are surprisingly
simple, and surprisingly less than obvious. Of course you
*must* have a single point ground system that eliminates all
ground loops. And you must present a low *impedance* path for
the energy to go. That's most generally a low *inductance*
path rather than just a low ohm DC path.

And even from Sun Microsystems "Planning guide for Sun
Server room":
http://www.sun.com/servers/white-pap...ning-guide.pdf
Lightning surges cannot be stopped, but they can be diverted.
The plans for the data center should be thoroughly reviewed
to identify any paths for surge entry into the data center.
Surge arrestors can be designed into the system to help
mitigate the potential for lightning damage within the data
center. These should divert the power of the surge by
providing a path to ground for the surge energy.

Did Michael Terrell cite technical facts? Of course not.
Others here have posted how damage is routinely avoided.
Thank you Michael for your insults. When do you provide a
single reason why this well proven science does not work? Its
been a few years. When do you provide one good technical
reason?

I have cited a lot of things in the past, and you've always ignored
them. You've been spreading the party line of lies for years, ignoring
every statement and reference.

Here you are parroting other people's data. You did not do the
research, or the actual work. I'm surprised you didn't toss in "The
Empire State building" as usual. You refuse to accept that grounding
systems deteriorate with age, or can be damaged. WLBE in Lake County
Florida lost most of their antenna grounding system when a mall was
built next door. The workers crossed the property line with a bulldozer
and ripped out half of the buried 4" copper strapping. The antennas sit
on two platforms in a marsh and can be hit repeatedly during a single
storm. In fact, it doesn't even have to storm to see and hear the bolt
strike one, or both towers. Over time something fails. I asked the
engineer to go on line and tell you himself but Frank simply laughed and
said that you were too damn stupid to know what he was talking about. I
think he's right. You've never worked here in Florida, or seen the
damage caused by repeated strikes on a single structure in a short time
frame. Pieces of steel warped from the high current flow, or other
equipment damaged by induced current from the EMP. You are a troll. On
the atomic chart you would be Hydrogen. You are stupid, pig headed, and
a pimple on the ass of Usenet. You only care about pushing your
harebrained agenda. You refuse to listen to those with experience.

Yes there are things that can be done to reduce lightning damage.
Yes, systems fail. Nothing man-made is perfect, nor will it ever be. As
long as you keep spreading your lies and half truths, people will call
you on it. You are not only stupid, you're dangerous.

Others who learned from lightning damage eliminate a failure
rather than just replace electronics. Michael endorses
failure as if it was situation normal. Even children are
taught not to be quitters. Damage from direct lightning
strikes is routinely avoided.

I have tried several times in the past to explain induced secondary
damage, but it bounces right off your thick skull. It doesn't fit your
agenda so you ignore it.

So which week was Michael's town without phone service while
the telco switching computer was replaced? Oh? They don't
disconnect that computer from overhead wires everywhere in
town during thunderstorms? How can that be when Michael says
protection is not effective?

Once again, you are telling a big ole pack of lies. I stated that a
pair in a buried line from my house to the equipment pedestal a mile
away was vaporized, that the cards on that line were fried, and that the
pair from the equipment pedestal to the CO was damaged so bad they had
to abandon it, and replace the interface card at the CO. You are as
dense as the operator at Sprint who had to yell over the static on the
damaged pair to ask "Are you sure there is something wrong with your
telephone service?". It is you that spreads the lie that telephone
equipment is never damaged by lightning.

I never said the whole town was without phone service. On the other
hand, one whole exchange (10,000 phone numbers) was out of service for
about 24 hours back in the '80s after a storm. The contractor didn't
assemble the buss bars properly, a pinhole leak dripped into the buss
duct and it exploded. The idiots had assembled the buss bars with zinc
plated bolts and the damage was so bad they had to replace most of the
buss bars, and replace the zinc plated steel bolts with the proper brass
bolts.

--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

w_tom wrote:

(a lot)

But, Dubya Tom, I think you're missing the most important point: Earth
ground. Earth ground is what's really, really, really, really, really
important. Earth ground. It's important. The most important thing is
earth ground. And humans. And earth ground.

Yes, an improperly installed lightning rod can cause damage
... because the human has failed to install or maintain the
most critical component in a lightning protection system:
earth ground. So what is Michael's point? Whether it be
lightning rod or radio station or telephone central office
switching station. They all suffer direct lightning strikes
and must not suffer damage. Protection is defined by quality
of and connection to earth ground which is why properly
earthed facilities need not suffer damage.

Bulldozers rip out a ground system for a radio station.
That proves that lightning damage cannot be avoided? That
demonstrates why lightning damage is due to human failure.
Yes grounding systems can also deteriorate with age. If a
human does not maintain it, then lightning damage can occur.
Human failure. Protection is only as good as its earth
ground. So what is your point? That one should quit because
lightning damage is unavoidable?

I was building surge protectors decades ago. Some
unfortunate failures. Some spectacular successes. One never
resolved mystery. One fact was consistently demonstrated and
repeated by industry professionals even in IEEE papers.
Protection is only as effective as its earth ground. By your
own examples, inferior earth grounds can result in damage.
Improper connections of a lightning rod to its earth ground
caused failure. So what? Inferior earth grounds are examples
of human failure. Earthing defines protection from lightning.

Michael Terrell demonstrates that damage occurs when the
human does not install or maintain sufficient earthing.
However since protection might not be large enough for the
rare 200K amp lightning strike, then we should never bother
with any protection? What kind of reasoning is that?

Most all lightning strikes do so little damage as to not
even leave indications on trees. Even 12 AWG wire (20 amp
wire inside walls) is more than sufficient to earth most
direct lightning strikes. But we install even heavier wire
and earthing grounds to lightning rods so that even larger
direct strikes cause no damage. In many locations, human do
not install protection for the 200,000 amp strike because such
strikes just don't happen. Where it does happen, the earthing
system is enhanced. Even in Central FL, professionals have
installed earthing systems to make damage irrelevant. Humans
also fix the earthing systems when bulldozers rip it out
because proper earthing is that essential to protection.

For locations with no protection, even a single 8 foot earth
ground rod is a massive improvement. Again repeating the
point. Protection is only as good as the earth ground.
Damage from lightning is directly traceable to human failure.
In locations where a human will never see a 200K lightning
strike in his lifetime (which is most places), then even a
simple eight foot earth ground rod is sufficient. But should
earthing need be marginally improved, then size and cost of
that earthing system increases quickly.

Others fixed their earthing systems and stopped suffering
damage in Central FL. That is the point. Eliminating damage
starts with and is defined by the quality of earth ground and
connections to it. Even 25 strike per year to TV and FM
stations on the Empire State Building need not cause damage -
which is where much of the original research was conducted.
Michael Terrell says that is wrong because humans will not
maintain their earthing systems? Quitters logic.

Michael promotes a quitters attitude. Yes, a lightning
protection system may fail to earth an extremely rare 200,000
amp strike. Yes, most locations don't protect from the 200K
lightning strike because such lightning never occurs. So
what? Therefore he advocate no protection? Why advocate a
quitters attitude? Protection is defined by earth ground.
Properly installed earthing systems can even earth 200K
lightning strikes. But a damaged earth ground system means
damage can occur. Damage avoided if the earthing system been
repaired and was sufficient.

Other radio stations in central FL addressed earthing
problems and don't experience repeated failures. Central FL
requires even better earthing systems. Maybe they also
maintain their earthing systems? How can that be? Well some
humans accept failure as situation normal. Others fix problems
before failure occurs. Some may even insult to prove their
point. But those other radio stations fixed their problems
rather than just repeatedly replace the phone system. They
did not take on a quitter's attitude. They addressed the
solution starting with a most critical system component -
earth ground. One that was sufficient for Central FL.

Brian Running wrote:

w_tom wrote:

(a lot)

But, Dubya Tom, I think you're missing the most important point: Earth
ground. Earth ground is what's really, really, really, really, really
important. Earth ground. It's important. The most important thing is
earth ground. And humans. And earth ground.


Tom is an idiot. I say that you can't install and forget grounding or
other protective devices and he says that I'm a quitter. The only thing
that has quit are his last few brain cells.

--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida