[time-nuts] Lightning strikes vs GPS antennas

[Stan, W1LE]

Hello Mike,   Happy 4th !


How about:

Put the GPS receiver and antenna up high. Add photovoltaic panels, a 
charge controller, and batteries for all of the DC power needed.
Add a RS-232 serial to fiber optic converter then a few hundred feet of 
fiber optic for the galvanic isolation.
At the shack end have a fiber to RS-232 converter then the PC and Lady 
Heather.

If you are only after the 1PPS timing pulse, that is a different story I 
have not addressed.
Maybe the 1 PPS can be extracted from the serial port.

Possibly convert the RS-232 serial to USB,  then a fiber converter and a 
similar full duplex converter at the shack end.

Another alternative may be a RS-232 serial to WiFi converter and a 
similar unit in the shack. Full galvanic isolation with radiated RF.

Transition Networks may offer RS-232 to fiber converters. They may also 
be found on Ebay, as will the fiber cables.
Possibly do a product search at NewEgg.com. for other choices of converters.

Stan, W1LE     Cape Cod      FN41sr


On 7/4/2010 11:31 AM, Michael Baker wrote:
> Time-Nutters--
>
> The 5-year Flash Density Map of the USA provided by
> the National Weather Service indicates that my county
> here in N. Central Florida experiences "16 and up"
> strikes/sq-km/year.
>
> < http://www.weather.gov/os/lightning/images/map.pdf >
>
> Experience bears this out...
>
> I live on 6 heavily wooded acres and have had at least
> 6 trees struck and killed somewhere on my property
> over the last several years.
>
> I make it a faithful practice to disconnect antennas
> from any gear during the frequent thunderstorms we
> experience.
>
> I have considered fastening a GPS antenna on the end of
> a 12 foot fiberglass pole and installing it in the top
> of one of the trees next to my workshop building so that
> it has a clear 360 deg sky view down to within a few
> degrees of the horizon.
>
> It would be nice to come up with some way to use fiber
> optics to isolate the GPS antenna from the receiver.
> Coming up with a solar panel and battery to isolate the
> antenna and RF preamp power is no big deal but coming up
> with a way to isolate the RF via fiber is more problematic.
>
> Any thoughts/comments on this...?
>
> Thanks!!
>
> Mike Baker
> Micanopy, FL
> -----------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
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