Stephen W. Kercel wrote:
BTW, you cannot really design to survive a direct hit.
If your antenna is actually struck by lightning, the antenna itself will
most likely be destroyed, along with the coax and the rig. Also the
building will suffer structural damage.
I don't think that's quite true. BC stations survive direct hits every
day. I would agree, however, that it would cost more than most hams are
willing to spend.
You would need an antenna some distance from the building, with an
appropriate lightning ground system (multiple radials, each with several
ground rods on it) at the base of the tower. Then you would need
lightning suppressors at the top and bottom of the tower for all coax
and control lines. At the entrance to the building, you would need a
single entrance panel, through which all power, antenna, telephone, etc.
lines feeding the building would pass and on which were mounted the
appropriate suppressors for all the above. At this point there would be
another ground system, bonded of course to the antenna ground system.
If you had a separate building for a shack, this probably wouldn't be
too hard; but for a building that also serves as a home it might be
difficult!
--
73,
Vic, K2VCO
Fresno CA
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco
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