As to methods to lessen the chance of damage.
Bond all grounds together with a #6 ga or bigger wire. Antenna, telephone,
sat dish, cable and AC
Install a surge protector on the main breaker panel, the type that plugs
into the bussbars It must have a protected light on it
Install High quality surge protection strips on all electronic equipment.
All need to have protection lights on them, not just on lights.
Make sure your bldg. grounding is clean, tight & sized right for your service.
Check your surge protectors regularly. If the protection light is off, replace
it. Most use MOV’s and once they take a big hit they are useless. Do not put a
Home Depot $15.00 plug strip/ surge protector protecting a $3000.00 radio.
Tripplite makes some good surge protectors
From: BVARC <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Robert Polinski via BVARC
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2021 5:43 PM
To: 'BRAZOS VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB' <[email protected]>
Cc: Robert Polinski <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [BVARC] N5XZ Lightning Strike - Seeking guidance
This is also a National Electrical Code requirement ( That all ground rods be
bonded together ) which could result in an insurance denial of claim in event
someone smart enough to see that they weren’t. Not likely but possible. Robert
From: BVARC <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > On
Behalf Of Robert Polinski via BVARC
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2021 5:35 PM
To: 'terry leatherland' <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; 'BRAZOS
VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB' <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >
Cc: Robert Polinski <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> >
Subject: Re: [BVARC] N5XZ Lightning Strike - Seeking guidance
The reason to bond the 2 systems together is to eliminate any potential
difference between them. All grounding systems have resistance. If you pound a
ground rod into the earth and attach an extension cord hot wire to it, it will
not blow a 15 amp breaker! If your AC ground has say a 25ohm ground resistance,
and lets say you put 3 ground rods in for your station (antenna) ground and it
has a resistance of 17 ohms. When there is a large current flow (lightning) the
current will take the lowest resistance path to earth. If the grounds are
separate, the path it takes will be thru your rig or equipment as it contains
both a AC ground (ether thru the safety ground or neutral wire) and a antenna
ground. By bonding (connecting together) the two grounding systems, there is no
difference between the grounds. Although current may flow it will flow to the
lowest path & not try to create a path through you equipment. I can take a
radio and put 1000 volts on the case but if there are no paths for the current
to flow, the rig will see nothing and no damage will be done. A lightning bolt
may have several million volts, but that voltage must still overcome resistance
as it travels down the wiring and into the earth so the voltage & current will
be many times lower, still high, but not millions of volts. Robert
From: BVARC <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > On
Behalf Of terry leatherland via BVARC
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2021 5:09 PM
To: Robert Polinski via BVARC <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >
Cc: terry leatherland <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >
Subject: Re: [BVARC] N5XZ Lightning Strike - Seeking guidance
Robert.
HI. I was going to ask this very question. I recently rerouted all of my coax
and antenna runs thru a different path into my 2nd floor shack. Below the shack
I put in a 8' copper ground rod. I have all 4 coax lines going thru dx
engineering lightning arrestors into that ground rod.
It is about 40' away on the same house side from my main house AC ground..
Should I just run a 10Gauge wire leg from that new rod to the AC rod, thereby
making all of them the same ground structure?
Isnt that called a ground loop? or am i reversed in this thinking.
Terry Leatherland, K5PGF
281-455-8090
Sugar Land, Tx
On Tuesday, July 6, 2021, 04:29:04 PM CDT, Robert Polinski via BVARC
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:
Allen, you need to bond your ham ground with your AC ground. Robert
From: BVARC <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > On
Behalf Of Mark Brantana via BVARC
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2021 3:47 PM
To: BRAZOS VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
>; TDXS Reflector <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; CTDXCC
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >
Cc: Mark Brantana <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; Allen Brier N5XZ
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; Allen Brier <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> >
Subject: Re: [BVARC] N5XZ Lightning Strike - Seeking guidance
I have a new 650 watt computer power supply you can have if you want it.
Mark
N5PRD
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone <https://overview.mail.yahoo.com/?.src=iOS>
On Tuesday, July 6, 2021, 3:42 PM, Allen Brier N5XZ via BVARC <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:
As many of you know, I have suffered a direct lightning strike here at my
station on Monday, June 28th about 6:30 am. It was essentially catastrophic for
most of my equipment inside the shack and I am still assessing the damage. I
even have some damage to audio gear in another room. Many other homes in the
neighborhood also suffered damage, one of them so bad that EVERY piece of
electronic equipment in the house was fried. I am still waiting for a power
supply to get my computer back up and running, but thanks to Orville K5VWW, we
have determined that the hard drive is intact.
I am seeking guidance from anyone who has suffered a similar fate. I need to
know:
- How did you deal with the insurance company?
- How did you test equipment to determine the extent of damage?
- Did you employ an electrical engineer to provide statement(s) to the
insurance company to validate damage? (was is require to?) (Any EE's out there
available for this?)
- What was claimed? i.e. did you claim all feedlines, cables, adapters,
switches, etc. in addition to radios even if there is no damage visible?
Any other information which may benefit me in my claim would be appreciated. It
may be a while before I am back on the air again from my QTH.
Allen Brier N5XZ
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