Lightning protection

Discuss antenna construction, problems, tuning, designs...

Moderators: Sir Nigel, Nina, pcs, 5r, phpBB2 - Administrators

Post Reply
SpeedFreakIan
New registered user
New registered user
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 6:02 pm
Location: New Mexico

Lightning protection

Post by SpeedFreakIan »

So I’ve been putting this off until the lightning season, and now it’s time. How do I protect my transmitter from lightning? Is there some sort of RF surge protector I can get/make? Somebody told me to use a stick of graphite. Would this work?
User avatar
pcs
Site master
Site master
Posts: 3132
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2002 1:00 am
Location: Radio Land
Contact:

Post by pcs »

For a start, whatever pole you're using for your antenna should be grounded properly.
For details see rules for lightning-protection for the buildings.

This rule applies to all antennas in general, TV reception and others, but is often not followed.

Next, if you use a dc-shorted antenna, such as predator or ovc or many other antenna types,
such as our rpl0205, they represent a short to the lightning. Of course you still have lightning on the
outer shell of the coaxial cable so the antenna pole should be grounded.
Best regards,
Marko - PCS Electronics
--------------------------------------------------------
Turn your PC into a FM radio station!
http://www.pcs-electronics.com
fax +386 4 2316 128
Post Reply