A lightning storm blew
through a little while ago. For many of you
on this list that is a common
occurrence, but around here it's very
rare. With brand new UPSes installed
(just LAST NIGHT) I was a
little concerned when a strike hit about 1/4 to 1/2
a mile away and
the power went out, but everything held
together.
I was about
to start the generator when the power came back on,
so with that little
problem out of the way I went about checking the
wireless links. All of the
backhaul links and access points were running
just fine with most of the
customers coming back online fairly quick.
The moral of
the story, even if you think that it can't happen. Plan for it.
Because the
moment you don't, it probably will. We used good grounding
at the tower
sites, and used Polyphaser lightning arrestors on the units
that didn't have
lightning protection built into the DC Injector of the AMP,
and each site has
a 900VA UPS to run the switch, the radios and the AMPs.
That provided backup
power for the outage, and surge suppression for the
nearby
strikes.
I'm going to sign off now, and go sit and contemplate a much needed vacation.
Kevin Summers
KISTech Internet Services
Inc.
www.kistech.com
