Jess, Tape an empty aluminium drink can to the side of the single point earth strap (or to the leg of the tower). The magnetic field from the few thousand amps of strike current should flatten the drink can in microseconds!
Mark vk3byy ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jesse Lloyd Sent: Thursday, 29 April 2010 10:56 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Direct Strike Lightning Detector We've followed the polyphasor book to the best that we can, using 3" copper strap everywhere, single point ground, etc, etc. I'm reasonably confident that if it does get hit we won't know. I'd just like something simple to indicate that all our efforts were worth it (so I can say to the boss "we got hit and everything survived, told you so"). From reading some specs and documentation on tower leg mounted strike counters I think the fuse idea might work. So far I haven't seen any "that won't work's" float by in the threat, so thats something I suppose. Jesse On Tue, Apr 27, 2010 at 8:44 PM, Gerald Pelnar <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Got tower? On a high spot? It gets hit!! If you can't tell, that's a good thing. Gerald Pelnar WD0FYF McPherson, Kansas ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jesse Lloyd" <[email protected]<mailto:ve7lyd%40gmail.com>> To: <[email protected]<mailto:Repeater-Builder%40yahoogroups.com>> Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 12:32 AM Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Direct Strike Lightning Detector > Hey All, > > I am trying to think of a way to detect if a tower at one of our sites > gets a direct hit. I was thinking of paralleling a ground strap with > a 10mA amp glass fuse. Maybe make the two connections to the ground > stap 2 ft apart and use a fuse holder for fuse testing and > replacement. I suspect the fuse would blow if any significant current > went down the ground strap (or would the whole thing melt? I suppose > either way I'd know!). Ideas? > > I live in an area that doesn't see a lot of lightning, I'm curious if > the tower gets hit. > > Jesse > > > ------------------------------------ > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > >
