[time-nuts] Z3801A Antenna

[Tim Shoppa]

SAIDJACK at aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 6/3/2007 10:51:33 Pacific Daylight Time,  mctylr at gmail.com 
> writes:
>
> >I ended up purchasing a Oncore 2000 antenna (5V, 25dB) from  Ridge
> >Equipment <http://www.ridgeequipment.com/store/page6.html>  that I need
> >to install still (when there is no risk of  thunderstorms).
>  
> in one of my other jobs we encountered a lot of field returns of Sat Set  top 
> Boxes due to lighting strikes. These were not direct strikes, rather  
> proximity strikes that induced a large current (over 500A) into  the center 
> conductor, or into the house's ground.
>  
> Interestingly enough, almost no damage in the West, while a large  
> distribution of damage was centered in the active Midwestern states  etc.

I spent most of the 90's living on the West Coast (in between Southern
California and British Columbia) and in all that time saw exactly ONE
storm with lightning. It was a memorable event but is nothing compared
to where I live now, where electricity or phone service is off 
several times a month for several hours at a time as a result of storms
(storms winds taking down trees taking down the wires, or winds/trees
causing 120VAC or even worse 480 three phase to appear on the phone lines
as a result of a line cross, or direct lightning hits). A few times it
took a whole week to get electricity back. This is not in the middle
of nowhere - it's literally just a few miles from Washington DC.

I grew up in the midwest and it's nice to be back where there are
thunderstorms again.

> I can only recommend appropriate surge suppressors for the antennas -  even 
> if this means a couple of dB's attenuation.

Three words: Single Point Grounding.

Tim.