I would NOT put Cat5 surge protectors every 50-75 feet, you will likely get Ethernet errors and/or negotiation problems. At most there should be one at each end.
You are probably thinking of coax, and even so I suspect those are shield grounds, not actual surge protectors. I do agree with not making your antennas the highest thing on the tower if you can help it. If you must use an omni antenna located at the top, I have had some success with a COAX surge protector between the radio and the antenna. Polyphaser makes some DC blocking types that work OK and aren’t too expensive. If lightning hits, the omni is still probably toast, but it might save the radio. From: Edward Brooks Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2015 5:24 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [AFMUG] Static & Nearby Lightning Issues Here goes... We have a new 118' Super Titan Max tower that has been grounded per manufacturers recommendations. Each leg is physically bonded (not exothermically) to a 10' ground rod, all ground rods are then connected to each other in a ring. The equipment cabinet is bonded to an 8' ground rod and tied into the meter base grounding as well. The two ground rings are then bonded to each other in 2 separate places. With that said our issue has not been with the grounding, but with the dissipation of static at the height of the antennas. We currently have had the worst problems with the 3 Cyclone 2.4 antennas which are currently located on masts at the top of the tower. We have also had issues with a couple of the 5.7 Cyclones located below the top of the tower, but not as frequently. The center-line of the 2.4 APs is 120' AGL, the height of the tower is 118' AGL. We currently have WB-GigE-APC surge arrestors located in the cabinet which is located 10 ft from the base of the tower. After doing some research through various Cambium manuals and the Motorola R56 manual, I have some idea what our issue is, but would like to bounce those ideas off the community. My thought is that we neglected to put surge arrestors at 50' to 75' intervals (as recommended by the Motorola R56 manual) and 1 at the top for use in thunderstorm areas. Also we may need to lower the APs to a minimum of 2ft below the top of the tower (per the Cambium manuals for various antenna types). Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated. What have you done to mitigate this problem? Etc... Thanks, -Ed -- Edward Brooks Outside Plant Manager The Montana Internet Corporation 406-443-3347 X506 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com
