All about Lightning protection

Identifying the issue (I)

Among all activities practiced by radio amateurs, the problems of grounding and
the lightning protection of radio equipments are probably the sole fields that have
no room for experimentation; dame Nature doesn't like amateurism...
We have indeed to take this subject very seriously being given that amateurs
unaware of the danger they incurred without protecting themselves or their
installation have suffered of the anger of dame Nature up to see explode all their
domestic installation ! In the worst cases, they rejoined the Silent keys family. So
take care, the subject is at risk...
An aerial placed outdoor and powered through your transceiver constitutes a
conductive electrical circuit offering very few resistively. This is of course very
fine to work on the air in good conditions but this property has only one drawback.
That means that during thunder weather an antenna conducts very well electricity and if you do not take
care, a lightning striking its structure can very rapidly reach and damage your entire ham shack if it is not
properly protected against lightning and grounded. In the same way, if you try to touch the ends of an
antenna or the rungs of a tower during a thunderstorm, you can endure huge discharges of static and be
injured at the 1st degree if not worst. At last during these events if the tower or the antenna elements are
too close of a metallic object, including distribution power lines, you can damage these materials due to
arc and other sparks. These very dangerous phenomena mainly concern metallic towers, beams, verticals
and very long dipoles, as you have few chance to be concerned if you work with an indoor antenna or if
you use a wire antenna shorter than about 10 m.

The price of the security

We cannot conceal the fact that a good lightning protection cost a few money, and even much if you
desire to protect a large installation. Best to know it... A dozen PolyPhaser surge protectors cost $500, as
much copper ground rods cost $100, some clamps and other angle adaptor kits cost about $100, the
copper straps can largely exceed $500. You have to add tools and maybe some technical books. Hopefully
for a small amateur radio station like mine the investment is still tolerable. But when the total cost
exceeds $3000 most of us think about it at twice before investing. But you must compare the price to pay
for an efficient lightning protection to the price of potential repairing and administrative annoyance. Here
are real-life examples.
Andy Flowers, W0ZUX, experienced a direct strike
on his house and show us his shack at left. He
accepted to explain to us what happened when the
lightning stroke. Here are his comments.
"I had a surge suppressor on one of the AC outlets,
and it was not damaged. The other outlets were
destroyed. But I had no surge protectors on the
antenna wires. My 2-meter transceiver directly in front
of the main outlet was damaged beyond repair. On the
desk, below and to the right, is a Heathkit SB-200
linear that was not damaged. Next to the linear is a
Kenwood PS-30 power supply. It was damaged and
Encircled, is the last trace of damage that we can
had to have several parts, including the on-off switch
still see in W0ZUX.
replaced. To its left is a Kenwood TS-850S
transceiver. It had some damage and was

repaired. More to left is a CDR antenna rotator control

box. This had exploded and the case was nearly
destroyed as were many of its parts".
To continue, "Nothing else on the desk was damaged. At the time lightning struck, I had two computers
turned on and both of them had to be repaired. One coaxial cable end was on the floor and it burned a
hole in the carpet about a foot in diameter. The noise and light in this flash were horrible! The room was
filled with smoke and the lights were out as the circuit breakers to this room had tripped. There was some
other damage in other parts of the house also. The total damage was about $3000 that was covered by my
insurance, but $200". Hopefully for Andy his insurance agent paid the replacement value, or actual repair
cost, without taking into account the depreciation.
On his side, Harry Bloomfield's ham shack, M1BYT, was stroke by an indirect strike: "A few years ago,
the steeple of our local church was hit by a massive direct strike at about 2 am when I was fast asleep.
The church is about 100 m from my home, but the noise was unbelievable and I must have caused me to
almost jump out of bed. I remember landing back down on the bed. The strike was so intense it had
traveled down the lightning conductor, through the walls and caused a large area of plaster to fall. The
church repairs took 6 months. Many phone lines were damaged within a 1 km area and it took BT a week
to reinstate many of them. None of my equipment was turned on, but the pulse wrecked my internal
modem, traveled through my PC, out the parallel port, and then wrecked the port IC on my laser printer. I
have a remote dish satellite system which was turned on and the pulse took out the front end of the
receiver, but it did not damage the LNB. I had a range of receivers and transceivers (HF and VHF), most
were connected to antennas, but all of these surprisingly escaped any damage". Thus in this case, without
be protected, Harry's equipment was partly damaged although it was switched off but not disconnected
from the line.
After have lost, or almost, so much money and lost many time in administrative tasks, investing the
same amount in a good lightning protector looks "more normal" and certainly justified.
But can such events occur again or did they each occur by pure chance? It is good to know whether this
risk of thunder is real or really negligible, in what case the investment could be delayed, with the risk of
course to get a new visit of your insurance agent...

Frequency of thunderstorms
If I remember well my meteorology studies at the Air force, in average there are 20 millions
thunderstorms on the earth during one year, so in average 55,000 thunderstorms each day! We mean by
thunderstorm, the recording of at least one clap of the thunder (corresponding in the SYNOP weather
code to group 7, WW=17). Taking into account the duration of a thunderstorm (a few hours) we can say
that some 2600 thunderstorms rage on earth at each instant.
In general, the frequency of thunderstorms increases from the poles to the equator due to a progressive
increasing of the period of sunshine and moisture. In tempered European countries or in the northeastern
coast of the U.S.A. including New York, there are 4 to 7 thunderstorm days per year at spring, 9 to 14 in
summer, 2 to 5 in autumn and only one or none in winter. Reported on the year we observe 18
thunderstorm days per year on the seaside and 25 at a distance of about 300 km inlands. For your
information, the California coast records the less thunder events compared to all other states, with a
maximum of 5 thunderstorm days per year, when the central Florida supports up to 90 thunderstorm days
each year!
Without taking into account the influence of the latitude and moisture, being given the higher instability
of the atmosphere over lands in summer, the frequency of thunderstorms is usually higher than over the
ocean. At the seaside, thunderstorms mainly occur at night.

Crawlers, leader channels and CG lightning are three common appearances of lightning. Documents Chris
VenHaus, WPOD and Fiche W.L.

Driven up by the convective movements caused by a strong instability of the air, quite rapidly friction
occurs inside a thunderstorm cloud between droplets or ice particles. These sheerings and collisions lead
to charge the cloud of static electricity, the negatives values gathering at the lowest level as the ground is
charged positively, while positive particles gather on top of the cloud, near the famous anvil. When the
static charge reaches a threshold, a leader channel is created between the cloud base, searching to reach
the ground, and its counterpart in the ground, from which ions escape, searching the negative particles in
the cloud base. This channel contains ionized atoms, ions and free electrons; this is conductive plasma.
When both channels encounter at mid height, a huge discharge occurs in a few microseconds (typical
1.8 s). When the connection is established, the leader channel free its energy, reaching temperatures
exceeding 50,000 during one microsecond, compressing highly the surrounding air. This phenomenon
creates a huge explosion developing a shock wave that propagates a few kilometers away.
Now that a channel is created between the cloud and the ground, a discharge
can occur. These discharges can burst out either between the cloud and the ground
as in our example (CG lightning) or between the different parts of a same cloud
(CC lightning of Crawler), or at last between different clouds constituting a super
cell.
When the channel is triggered off, the lightning strikes the ground following the
path of least resistively, hence its path in zigzag. In the case of a CG lightning,
only the first return lightning displays a tree structure while the successive
discharges will always use the same channel, giving to the lightning the
impression of flashing like in the film displayed at left.
We can record up to 30 return discharges coming from the ground in a period of one to two seconds,
giving the feeling that the lightning is persistent and very bright. When the lightning stroke, the cloud
reload itself a few times depending its maturity and its activity. Some thunderstorms cells can generate
more than 100 lightning per minute while the less active emit only one lightning during all their life cycle,
so in a period of one hour.
These lightning find their origin in the high value of the local electrical field that can reach a potential
exceeding some thousands volts per centimeter just before the discharge! Discharge currents display a
peak energy ranging between 18 and 31 kA including short variations up to 24 kA/s. But they can also
reach more than 200 kA during a few microseconds! The conductor (a wire or a tower) is subject to huge
voltage too that can reach 750,000 V! Induction generated in electrical circuits of a house can generate
voltages exceeding 100,000 V!
A tower or any elevated structure is also a huge generator of voltage. The potential difference between
the top and the base of a 10m high (33 ft) tower is about 30,000 V during thunder weather. If this energy
is not dispersed away, the least object showing the lowest impedance will be seen as a perfect sink. If you

are just in contact with your equipment in such a circumstance, you will endure a severe strike although
all is well grounded, excepting you.
At last, a typical thunderstorm releases as much energy as 1 MT of TNT and up to day nobody has find
a mean to stock and exploit this energy yet. When one tells you that trying to resist to this energy is a lost
fight this has nothing exaggerated...
The bright lighting that we observe during a thunderstorm is accompanied by several huge impulses of
energy that spread in the electromagnetic spectrum 1[1]. During a lightning, most signals are pulsed DC
that are often preceded by the release of radio electrical energy (RF) during the first rise of the pulses. A
lightning strike lasting as short as 0.25 s radiates a radio electrical energy at 1 MHz audible on a
shortwave receiver. As the duration increases, the signal slowly drifts down in frequency. A 12 s impulse
for example radiates a RF signal at 20 kHz. Listen to a shortwave receiver during such events, these low
frequencies crackle for dozen of minutes as if there were spark in the air! And this is well what happens,
and much more...
These low frequencies radiations can be picked-up by a small LF antenna and directed to a computer
that will analyze the signal intensity and it is distance. Some manufacturer like Boltek provide a
"lightning detection tracker" (using a PCI card or the serial port of your PC completed with a software)
that warns you when the energy reaches a threshold.
If we are able to see and hear these lightning, due to their extremely high currents and voltages, there is
no doubt that they also produce undesired effects on equipments powered on the main that is a great
friend of dame Nature and Jupiter, famous for holding the lightnings in his hands. I have thus only one
recommendation to suggest you: protect you against their angry!
Thor's hammer...
This is the story of an amateur radio whose house
was stroke by a violent lightning during spring
months. He thought that he was well protected but
he wasn't... Indeed, the strike was such that the
shock was felt in a nearby house and the noise what
so loud that the OM thought that his pylon 15m high
collapsed. Hopefully the pylon was up but...
...all the electrical head exploded : all 64 amps fuses, the meter, the circuit
breaker, the relay, including the TV, the video recorder, the digital phone,
the computer screen and its video board, the modem, and last but not least,
the computer motherboard burnt, although all these devices where switched
off and linked to a lightning conductor that exploded too !
The VHF RTX that was switched off was stroke also and the fuse equipping
the HF RTX blew out. Its 30 Ah power supply was hit and the switch on/off
button was damaged. At last the motherboard of the small rotator AR-40
burnt also but as strange as it is all antennas were preserved and continue
working like usual !
The sole common point between all these devices is that all they were
linked to the same ground. In other words, the lightning went up by the
ground!
So the lesson is next: never say that a good ground can preserve you from
a direct strike. In such circumstances this accident confirms that a
difference of potential can always exist between two grounded objects and
damage your ham shack.
Youre only safe protection 100% sure is to unplug all your electrical

devices from the power line, switch off your devices, and get a good
insurance... Hope this helps!

How to protect your assets?

We must make a difference between the electrical protection provided by your house electrical circuit
and a radio electrical protection suited to HF needs of an amateur radio station. But in all cases, as you
will probably be connected to the main, that you will maybe install some domestic gears, a telephone,
additional lights, and why not a TV in your shack, the lightning protection will have to protect all these
equipments too and not only your transceiver and your antenna system.
In this article we will not review the domestic protection consisting for example in installing lightning
conductors on the high points, breakers in the electric distribution panel, etc. This subject requests
however a specific study.
In theory, a good lightning protection must protect all your radio electrical equipment, for short your
entire ham shack. A similar but independent protection should of course cover all your domestic devices
(fridge, cooker, microwave oven, TV, VCR, DVD, portable radio, Hi-Fi, computing network, answering
machine, lighting, etc), both being interconnected on a perimeter ground surrounding your house via the
utility entrance.
This project looks complex at first sight, and it can be for a contest station or a repair desk including
dozen of gears and a true antennas farm. So, to achieve this job we must divide this project in several
small steps, easier to manage. Here is an example:
A. Theoretical study and brainstorming
1. Identify all radio equipments and their accessories to protect
2. Identify all circuits (I/O lines with power requirements) to ground in common
3. Identify all antennas and anchorage systems to protect
4. Select the right protector device for the right circuit
B. The indoor installation
1. Create a special panel called a "single point ground" (common to all devices to protect), or SPGP
2. Lay on the SPGP all lightning protectors
3. Connect the I/O lines to the protectors (protected and unprotected sides)
4. Mount your SPGP on a wall with an access to the external ground system
5. Attach a large copper strap between the SPGP and the external ground system
C. The outdoor installation
1. Select an earth ground at 15m or more from the house
2. Create a perimeter ground around the house
3. Create a ground system (radials bonded to rods or using the tower Ufer ground)
4. Bind your copper strap coming out the ham shack to this perimeter ground
5. Bind the perimeter ground to the ground network
6. Check any possible difference of potential (tower side, close to the Telco, etc)
In addition, in large stations you will probably have to take in consideration the fact that the shack is
maybe distributed across several rooms and thus that you will have to install multi interconnect copper
strap buses to ground all these gears; the concrete floor conductivity impacts also the location of the
SPGP; and at last the constraints of your environment do not always allow you to run the wires or the
copper strap to the ground as you want in terms of accessibility, length or esthetic.
Let's review now each step individually, it is not so difficult.

Identifying the devices to protect (II)

To avoid spending too much money in a lightning protection
system, usually we need to identify the assets to protect in creating a
priority list. It will contain if not all, at least the most expensive or
important radio equipments installed in your ham shack that you
desire to protect against lightning. The ones that will stay without
protection would be unplugged for security as soon as a thunderstorm
will approach within 10 km (6 miles) of your area.
Begin with your more expensive gear, probably the transceiver,
then its power supply, your HF amplifier, SWR-reader, the rotator
control box, the packet interface, the scope, etc.
After a first identification of all big and expensive devices you have to look closer and identify also all
accessories attached to these devices, the key, the coax switch, the external speaker, maybe some CW
filters, etc. Then examine each unit and list its connections, the I/O lines in both input and output, without
to forget of course the feed line coming from the antenna and maybe the rotator control cable.
Then proceed the same way with all other equipments installed in the ham shack: your computer and all
its wired peripherals, including the screen, the keyboard, the modem or the DSL connection, the optional
printer, the digital cam, the scanner or your webcam. Add to the list your stereo system and its wired
connections and maybe your TV, the telephone and its answering machine and a digital clock. Don't
forget the secondary power supplies that recharge your GSM or your digital cam as well as all external
input devices permanently attached to your computer like the mouse, the memory card reader, an external
DVD reader, maybe a router or a wifi station, etc.
At last do not forget to draw a ground line from the chassis of each metallic gear, from the transceiver,
from the amplifier, from the tuner, etc to the outside of the diagram. For more clarity I have represented
them with a small ground symbol ( ) close to each equipment.
Excepting if it is integrated in your rack; does neither add the lighting to the list nor any other domestic
device like the fridge or the alarm system. For this first installation we focus only on the radio electrical
equipment that you use in the ham shack because it should protected by a grounding system independent,
but bonded to it later, from the domestic grounding system.

After a first look at your material you will quickly discover that your ham shack is
invaded by dozen of devices and twice as much wire. To manage this installation
that can quickly become complex, you must draw this installation on paper in a
block diagram like the one displayed at right, including all peripherals, all I/O lines,
all ground lines from chassis, and power requirements. Now, whatever the
complexity of your installation, you have under the eyes a very simple
representation of all interconnections. The red box contains all devices that you

desire to protect. The green bus represents all I/O.

For this case study I took my own small ham shack as practical example. As you can see it exceeds
rapidly 20 gears and this one doesnt practically include any workshop equipment (no oscilloscope or any
other test or measurement device). This is really a very simple installation that most active amateurs know
probably very well. But how to remember all their I/O circuits, their gingival power requirements to
purchase the suited protectors? This is simple.
We are going to place all these equipments and their I/O lines in a block diagram. This drawing will
represent the electrical circuit that the lightning might potentially follow to destroy your equipment if
there is an entry point of less resistively. Therefore you must include in this diagram all devices to protect
and all electrical connections made between them. Represent each device by a rectangle and write its
name inside. Represent the wires by simple lines. Do not forget to draw a ground wire from the chassis of
each equipment. Even passive components, USB devices and the antenna coaxial switch must be included
in the diagram.
Knowing that a lightning can jump from one metal object to another within a radius of 1.2m (4 ft),
insert also in the diagram all metallic devices located within 1.2m around your radio equipment. That can
be a metallic frame, a metallic desk or a chair, a metallic bin, a telephone or even the case of your
computer. Don't forget any device because the lightning is very clever to find the least weak point of your
radio electrical installation and the path of least resistively.
Then project all I/O connections and feed lines, what we call the circuits, to one side of the diagram for
a better clarity. Align them along a bus as displayed above. In addition, on each feed line write the
maximum power sustained, the range of frequencies, the type of feeder, the type of connector and its
gender if required (i.e. Coax, PL-259, 1kW, HF). At last, circuits side and close to each I/O device write
the voltage and current requirements (i.e. 220 V, 2A). These indications will help you later to select the
appropriate protector.
When your diagram is complete, reflecting all electrical devices and I/O of your ham shack verify each
of them to check if you don't forget a connection or left a peripheral aside. Once done, take your largest
red pen and draw a large frame around all devices. All wires entering this frame must be protected!
In identifying all devices and I/O lines of your ham shack, you have already realized 1/4th of your
project. But we have still to protect each of these devices with a good system, then create a single ground
point and bind this "point" to a ground system located outdoor in order to dissipate the lightning energy
away from the house. Let's examine each step separately.

Identifying and protecting I/O lines

Until now a surge can easily reach each device installed in your ham shack in following simply either
your coaxial, the telephone/DSL line or the AC line if they are not properly grounded. As we told, dame
Nature is smart enough to find the path the least resistive like water find always the lowest point.
A lightning protection is in fact very simple. In case of threat on one of your device, if the voltage
suddenly increases for example or if appears a point of lower impedance, it purposes is to short-circuit the
entry conducting to this device, and this for all gears installed in your ham shack. But not necessary in the
same way.

If the individual protector can be a simple electrical component like a shunt device, its sensitivity is of
the uttermost importance to protect your assets. Indeed, like you cannot block the water flowing in your
sink with a too small stopper, you cannot install any kind of protector on your devices.
The front-end stage of a transceiver for example consists in FET
transistors like the ones displayed at left from Zetex. These small
components are known to be very sensitive to overdrive (i.e. high
VSWR). They display in fact a maximum tolerance just a few volts
above the operating value. The I/O ports (serial, etc) of you computer
are also very sensitive and it happened that plugging simply the mouse
in its port, amateur short-circuited their mother board. That means that
the protector must be selected with a great attention to let pass through
the least energy as possible in respect with the specifications of your
device. Find the proper protector capable to limit the lightning
discharge is your first objective.
Manufacturers sold probably as many protectors as there are devices to protect, or almost. They come
in different shapes, several range of frequencies, suited for AC or DC power, Telco, IT network, in single
or multiple circuit lines. We must thus well define our scope. We can divide protectors in five major
categories:
- The coaxial surge protector
- The AC power protector (most devices powered on main)
- The Telco protector (for the telephone, modem, ADSL, etc)
- The circuit breaker (a shunt for all external devices, i.e. the antenna rotator or elevator)
- The ITW Linx surge protector and alike (for IT networks in UTP)
The coaxial surge protector
Sometimes called a lightning arrester, the coaxial surge protector is designed to join two segments of
coaxial cable. Inserted in-line on your feeder it protects your antenna. A quality product should not add to
system neither SWR (the worst display a VSWR 1.2:1), nor insertion loss, nor return loss and it must
operate in a wide range of frequencies and be compatible with your emitting power, match to the load and
using the right connector type (i.e. 1.5-50 MHz, 2 kW, 50 ohms, SO-239). Note however that some
models are not suited for transmitting or do not provide both genders M/F. Of course like most protectors
there are two sides, to not reverse if you want that your protection works properly!

At left a gas-tube protector with N-connectors from Nex Tek. At center and at right the
classic coaxial surge protectors equipped with UHF connectors and a bulkhead mounting
from respectively Industrial Communication Engineers and PolyPhaser.

Dipole fed with an open-wire must be protected in another way, using a shunt-type protector for
example instead of an in-line model. How that works? Use two identical gas-tube surge protectors and
install them at each leg of the feed line near the entry point (usually approximatly 10m below the dipole).
Most are capable to sustain a current peak of 40-50 kA (on 8/20 S IEEE standard) and voltage exceeding
1000V. They work in frequencies ranging from DC to 2 GHz; they provide a bi-directional protection and
are weatherproof.
Aside the HF, V/UHF or broadband surge protectors, there are models specialized for repeater duplexer
antennas, GPS, radio, TV, CCTV antennas, etc. They are usually available with a flange or a bulkhead
mounting like the model displayed above, allowing screwing it easily on the single point ground plate
(see below).
The AC power protector
This is a protector well know by amateurs and other handyman. Most devices of your shack are
probably powered on the main, 220V or 110V. Like the telephone outlet, the AC power outlet is specific
to each country due to the non-standardization of the connectors at worldwide scale. So you must buy it in
your country to prevent any hardware compatibility problem. But this is not enough. Many "AC
Lightning protector" are not what they claim to be but simple outlets protected against voltage surge,
sometimes coupled to an uninterrupted power supply or even simple multi adaptors equipped with a
power switch. If some use a safety ground wire, this latter is unable to carry away the surge of a lightning
strike. Even a ground wire made of #14 AWG is too inductive with respect to the short interval during
which the current intensity "explodes" in a strike. None of these products will ever protect your
equipment excepting against line noises.
A good AC power protector able to redirect the RF energy of a strike to the
ground must be placed in-line with your device and protected with a metallic
housing to avoid melting under the strike conditions. It must match your
voltage and current requirements. In my block diagram there are 7 devices
powered on 220V at 2A maximum, plus the transceiver and the amplifier that
draw each 220V at 16A maximum.
You can combine all small devices powered under 220V at 2A maximum on
a single AC power line protector. You can combine them up to the limit of the
circuit protector current limit (usually 15 or 20A in using a model similar to
the one displayed at right).
Once protected, the AC power can then be distributed to each of the equipment elements using a multi
adaptor optionally equipped with a switch. Drawing high current, I would recommend a separate protector
for the amplifier power feed (15A) and another similar protector for the transceiver. Some high-end
equipment might require a more powerful protector, up to 200A.
At last GPS, TV, CCTV and other repeater feed lines require also a dedicated AC or DC protector able
to separate the RF energy form the current and protect each device in respect to its requirements.
The Telco/datacom protector
Like the power outlet seen previously, the telephone line connector comes also in many types specific
to each country. There are also technical differences, to name the classic old POTS to the digital terminal
including a built-in answering machine or a video system. The oldest use a balanced line powered at -48V
DC while modern devices are powered either via the line or on the main. Depending the model, an in-line
DC protector (for POTS) or an in-line AC power protector (for devices powered on 220V AC) will be
effective.

This telephone line will be probably also used for the asynchronous
modem or your DSL connection. Most of the time these interfaces use
modular connectors RJ-11 or RJ-45. Using a plastic housing, from an
electrical point of view these connectors are very fragile and they cannot
sustain the surge energy of a lightning strike. In such occasions either the
connector is welding or is fusing.
At last, plugged in an interface card, in case of surge these connectors can
short-circuit, burn the printed circuit boards, and create arcs on equipments.
So, as long as you can, avoid using these connectors and select a telephone line protector accepting bare
wires like the model displayed above. This model protects also DSL connection or your UTP home
network. In case of technical problem, call your phone distributor for help.
The circuit breaker
All devices located outdoor must also be protected, beginning with the antenna rotator and maybe the
antenna elevator. The rotator of the antenna system can be driven by a relay, an electronic system or even
optical encoders in the most advanced systems. Each model requires an in-line shunt device appropriate to
the type of interface and voltage requirements.

Three lightning primary surge protectors. At left a device suited to a rotator controller with 8
lines, IS-RCT from PolyPhaser. At center a network protector ITW Linx category 5. At right an
ITW Linx protector category 6, one of the first models suited to a router.

The network surge protector

Although not all amateurs have installed a computing network at home, many amateurs use at least one
home computer and maybe a portable. If you connect your computer to a network, there is some chance
that you have selected a UTP (unshielded Twisted Pair) architecture. Of course, like the computer
installed in your shack, its I/O must also be protected.
For an ordinary 10/100 Mbits UTP network, ITW Linx and Tripp-Lite provide what they call a
Category-5 LAN cable. This is a protector to wire in series with the network and grounded the same way
as the other protectors. Recently ITW Linx introduced a surge protector for routers too, a category-6
model.

The single point ground panel (III)

We have practically achieved half of our project. The theoretical part
consisting in the identification of your equipment and the selection of
lightning protectors is done. Now it is time to lay down your protectors on
a single ground point and bind all this equipment to an external earth.
As we explained on the previous page, the purpose of a lightning
protection is to short-circuit when threatened by a surge. In addition the
excess of energy will have to be rerouted away, towards a grounding
system. By shorting all wires running to the devices, physically no current
can reach your equipment. If in addition all the protectors are mounted in
common, no current can flow between the I/O devices. In other words, no
lightning surge current will flow up to your radio equipment.

K5GS's single point ground

panel with its protector
devices, cables and the strap
at right.

For reaching this objective we need to create a "single point ground panel", SPGP for short. As its
name states, it will be the sole ground point in your ham shack. It is important that this ground displays
the lowest electrical potential of your room, what we already introduced when speaking about RFI and
equipotent.
To achieve this you need to buy a copper plate (some
use a copper pipe) large enough to lay down all your
surge protectors, say at least 50x50 cm (1.6x1.6 ft) if
your protectors are not numerous and not too large. I
displayed at left one of the models sold by PolyPhaser, a
US company represented worldwide. This plate comes
with a fiberboard back and it suited to small to medium
radio stations. Two copper straps 38 mm wide (1.5") and
their accessories are also provided, the first to make the
junction to the external grounding system, the second to
bind the chassis ground of all your equipment.
Of course for a large contest station you can bind
several plates together or use a wider copper strap (up to
15 cm wide or 6" at PolyPhaser).
We saw in the previous page that each of your equipment chassis had to be connected to the SPGP. To
make this possible in a small station you can run a bus bar along the back of the station desk and
connecting it to the SPGP second strap. The bus bar can be a piece of copper water pipe, a wide flat
copper braid or, better, a copper strap too. The width of this strap should be between 30 and 80 mm (1-3"),
the larger the best to keep the inductance as low as possible as the RF tends to travel on the outside of the
conductor (the famous "skin effect").
As you ham shack will probably grow with years, think to buy an oversized SPGP. You will maybe
install a second tower with its rotator in the future; get new gears powered on the main, new coaxial
cables, etc. So instead or having to rearrange all these devices on a plate became too short, it is wiser to
foresee now this expansion, and to leave some room left for an additional AC power protector, one or
several coaxial protectors and maybe one more rotator or line shunt device. The alternative is to foresee
now the place and connections for a second SPGP that will be linked to the first.
Do not add protector for your input devices like the microphone, the key, the headphone or the mouse
or any other device connected to a controller. Indeed these controllers, to name the transceiver or the
computer are already grounded to the SPGP through the ground strap and the input devices will be
automatically grounded to their chassis by design.

An AC/DC ground is not an RF ground

Remember that a "perfect" DC ground like the electrical
plug has nothing to do with a RF ground, except at very
low frequencies. Such a plug ground will probably be
useless as an RF ground for HF and V/UHF bands. At
the very least, however, it could be effective as an AC
ground for the station and can be used for that purpose.
It will not be a good lightning ground however, and it
shouldn't be relied upon for that purpose.

Last but not least, it is time to mount your surge protectors on the SPGP. Like on the above picture try
to separate the protected side of the SPGP (above center) from the unprotected one (below center). To
accomplish this, coaxial protectors and most other devices are provided with a label stating what side
must be connected to the "outside world" and which one must be connected to the equipment. For
example, on the coaxial protector is its labeled "Antenna on one side and "Equipment" on the other
one. For a telephone or a network protector, the label states "Lines" and "Equipment", thus there is
no risk either of inverting the device. At last for an AC power protector it is not always labeled, but the
power cord must be placed on the outside, "Antenna" side like on the above image as your multi-adaptor
cord will be plugged in the outlet(s), thus "Equipment side".
The spark-gap level
Security side, many installations create functional SPGP
but they forget to respect some basic security rules. For
example, in order that the SPGP works properly, you must
maintain a physical separation of approximatly 50 cm (1.5
ft) between the unprotected cabling (rotator cable, antenna
coax, incoming AC power, etc) and the protected wiring
of the same connections. Why? Because during the short
time that the voltage flows through an in-line protector,
there is a voltage difference when it crosses the input to
the output side of the protector. At 66% of the velocity of
light in using coaxial of low velocity factor, a duct 30 cm
long (1 ft) is crossed in about 1.7 nanoseconds. In this
This SPGP is not fully secure as it does not
short interval, any significant potential difference (if a
respect the "spark-gap level". Above left for
device is not grounded for example) or inductance
example the gray coaxial located on the
increasing can be a sink and thus experiment a lightning
unprotected side is bending down too close its
strike. This "spark-gap level" is established in respecting
protected counterpart. Idem with the two coaxial
this separation of 50 cm. If you attach your cables well in- marked in red below left. There are all chances
that the protectors failed due to a too short
line, thus in opposite direction, you prevent this problem.
spark-gap during an intense strike event.
In the same way, if you place the SPGP vertically, the
thick cables like the coaxial will have, due to the gravity, a
tendency to bend down and come close, and sometimes to
touch the wire on the unprotected side of the plate. If this
happens during the strike event, there is a chance for a
spark-gap breach of the protectors between the cables,
thus a failure of your protection plan.
This rule can be somehow pushed if your tower is located a few hundreds meters from your house.
Over 200 or 500m away for example, any strike will be dissipated to a large degree before it gets to the

house. That has some effect in reducing voltage at the SPGP, allowing attaching all cables near each other.
However the potential risk of an arc will remain. Remember Murphy's Law.
How to attach the surge protectors on the SPGP?
Usually protectors come with a flange or a bulkhead mounting. This latter allows to easily screwing the
foot in L-shape to the panel. Depending on the thickness of the panel metal and the characteristics of the
underlying support material (if any), it may be necessary or appropriate to drill a small pilot hole so that
the machine screw does not buckle the surface or raise the panel from the backing material (what might
happen using a fiberboard-backed copper panel). What is important here is that the protectors have a
consistent, clean, flat, low impedance connection with the SPGP. If the panel is located in a noncontrolled environment, say lock up in a box outdoor, then it may be appropriate to use a small amount of
conductive grease or simply Vaseline between the protector mounting bracket and the panel to ensure that
moisture does not deteriorate the connection.
When all devices are screwed or bolted in the SPGP, you still have to find a place in the ham shack to
attach it, after which you can screw and plug all your cables and wires in their respective surge protectors.
Ideally the SPGP should be placed within a few meters (1 to 10 ft) of the radio station equipment, inside
of an external wall, close to a window or mounted in a full-fledged through-wall entrance panel. It should
be placed between and inline with the entrance of the coax cables and the radio equipment. Assuming
that it is in a controlled environment, there is no need to have a protective cover or box. Most amateurs
mount the panel on the radio station wall midway between the coax entrance into the room and the
operating desk. This helps to achieve a cable path layout that minimizes the potential to mix protected and
unprotected cables. Creating the layout of the protectors on the panel will require some thought.
As displayed at left on the installation of Bill Otten, KC9CS, it is
not necessary to protect your SPGP with a cover or to place it in a
box. If it is well grounded and each of the chassis is connected to
the panel, there are no safety issues or problems since no current
must flow on its surface. If you place the SPGP outdoor with AC
protectors, of course in this case you must place it under cover, i.e.
inside an electrical weatherproof plastic box.
Then take all your ham shack cables and plug them in their
respective protected devices. From the outside do the same and
connect all your unprotected wire on the other side of the SPGP.
Attach also the ground wires of your chassis to the ground strap. If
necessary label each connector or identify each pair with a colored
strap if the protector is hidden. If the cables bend attach them with
mini-clamps or straps to respect the spark-gap level.
SPGP impedance
Theoretically to prevent any energy sink, all devices and conductors must display the same electrical
potential. As we have already told and will say again, if during a surge event the energy finds a path of
lower impedance than another, be sure that it will follow that conductor to the end, what is maybe not the
function of your ground system... So to be sure that your ground connection offers the lowest resistively,
all wires connections must run on the shortest distance, in straight line (with a minimum of bends in the
wire) and as wide as possible, hence the utility of installing a wide copper strap to the outside instead of
using a simple AWG wire, even of large diameter (at least #10 AWG). Due to its design this latter is
inadequate to disperse the energy quickly and safely.
The fact to run the copper strap ground from the SPGP in straight line to the external grounding system
is easier to say that to do. Indeed, most of the time the environment forces you to divert from the straight

line due to an obstruction, a wall, a door or even for esthetic considerations. So, knowing that, run the
strap... as straight as possible to the outside!
Be only aware that no conductor like to be compressed, what modify its impedance, nor change of
direction. In bending a conductor at 90 for example its inductance will increase of approximatly 0.15 H
on a distance less than 25 mm (1"). Repeated on a few meters this cumulative effect can significantly
increase the transmission line inductance. Then, due to the nature of the field components, a wide wire
like a strap as a lower inductance per length, compared to a rounded conductor, and has minimal
inductance for turns. The electromagnetic field doesn't like change direction neither. Each bend or turn
represents a large change in the field orientation over short distance. If the change is large enough, some
of the electrons traveling in the conductor can leave the wire and find by themselves a path to the ground:
there is an arc. Therefore if you desire that the grounding system works properly you need, here also, to
respect the laws set by Nature.
Whatever the size of the conductor, a wire has inductance. However larger is the wire size, lower is its
inductance. Then to reduce the skin effect, the fact that the RF energy travels near the surface of the wire
instead of using the central core, we should use oversized conductors to get the best path to the ground.
That means that a railroad bar should be the best connector; it is massive and offers a large surface.
Unfortunately this solution is not really conceivable as such a bar is first prohibitively expensive but also
extremely heavy and cumbersome. So we need to find a cheaper solution but offering similar
performances if possible.
To meet all these criteria at low cost but without
impacting the security, there is a solution, and very easy
to handle. It is using a copper strap in #26 AWG or 0.4
mm thick and at least 38 mm wide (1.5"). Displaying a
lower inductance than the big #4/0 AWG cable (16.4
mm), it is also much cheaper and lighter (14 kg/100m vs.
110 kg/100m). With its 38 mm wide, its cross sectional
area is similar to the #6 AWG wire (6.95 mm, over 9
kg/100m) and almost as light. If you install a Belden
9913 coaxial cable, its perimeter represents about 32 mm
or 1.27" of incoming conductor surface. Our wide copper
strap is still larger and its surface makes it ideal for
KC2TN's SPGP. Note above left the braid
conducting the strike's RF energy to the ground. Of
grounding all chassis and very below the large
course, if you use 2 or more such coax, you can purchase
copper strap going to the external grounding
a 10 cm wide (4") strap. For a 7/8" Hard-line (22 mm)
system.
a minimum strap width of 8 cm (3") is needed but 10 cm
(4") would be better. If you work with three Hard-lines,
triple these numbers.
To be sure to have the best path, inductance is calculated on the length of the connections between the
SPGP and the ground, as well as on the number and sharpness of the turns. In practice this is the
inductance of the coax cables between the antennas and the SPGP that you need to compare to the
calculated inductance of the ground conductor.
At last, to please dame Nature and present her a path of least resistively, we need to offer a ground path
larger than the total amount of coaxial surface area coming to the SPGP from the antennas. Why take the
coaxial for reference? Simply because since the most likely place for the surge current to originate is the
antenna, and the coax cables represent a relatively low inductance connection to the surge, it is important
that the connection to the earth ground be a more attractive (lower inductance) path than the path in any
other direction. The other wires (AC, telephone, etc.) are small and inductive in comparison to the

coaxial and can usually be ignored in figuring the width of the ground conductor. For that reason the use
of a copper strap larger that the perimeter of all coaxial is recommended.
We have now achieved our indoor installation. We have selected our surge protectors, learnt how to
mount them of the ground plate to get an effective protection against the lightning energy. Remain to bind
this ground to the external ground system.

The external grounding system (IV)

After have created our single point ground panel, SPGP, in the
ham shack and attached on it our surge protectors as well as all
cabling, take a look at the outside. We have now to develop a good
external grounding system.
Quite regularly we read on forums that an external grounding
system can be made in burying simply a copper rod in the ground
close to the ham shack. But if you read the other articles, you know
how subtle can be the properties of the conductors and
electromagnetic fields. I would like to know how a so light
installation could be efficient in dispersing the energy of a lightning
Grounding straps installed at WX3K
and its side effects, not to mention any voltage difference generated
by a tower. I do not bet the least buck on this protection, inadequate
to protect your radio equipments.
Indeed, after have read this article, you know that an external efficient grounding system has for main
purpose to dissipate the most lightning energy as possible before it finds the path to your amateur station...
Good news, in the best ham installations, taking advantage of an extended estate, high conductive soil and
of a lot of money, up to 90% of the lightning energy can be dissipated into the ground if it is properly
installed. This is a high value that even some commercial sites do not reach! However such results are
hard to achieve for an amateur radio who is not necessary willing to spend more than $5000 in his
lightning protection!

Ground radials and rods

Let's take the case your are a lucky amateur having assembled an antenna on top of tower placed close
to your shack, knowing that a simpler installation will not require a protection as large as the one we are
going to describe.
As its name states, the external grounding system is... a system. That means that a ground rod is not a
system! To get efficient energy dissipation and a good protection we need to create a network of
interconnected rods and radials. It should be divided in several parts:
- The perimeter ground
- The ground radials
- The rods
From a pure electrical point of view there can be only one ground system for a facility (house or
building). The fact of having more than one, separating for example the domestic from the radio ground,
will permit current to flow between the different grounds and it will usually flow through your radio
equipment since it will most likely be bridging multiple grounds.
To get the best lightning energy dispersion, it is recommended to build the external grounding system
as a thick network in shape of goose foot (X) away from the house, at both the tower base and the
anchorage bases. All radials and perimeter ground lines use either a copper bare cable or, preferably, a
wide copper strap (38 mm or 1.5" or larger). The strap is less inductive than #4/0 AWG cable and also
less expensive. Ground rods should be as thick as a finger, 16 mm or 5/8" in diameter minimum, and

2.4m or 8 ft long, copper clad. Each ground rod should have a cylindrical shape, sharp angles providing
area of potential arcs. You can also replace the rods by the ground steel frame that youd have sunk in the
concrete base of your tower. At last a cheap solution, but that we do not recommend, should be to connect
your copper strap to the grounded metal frame of a building or to the water-piping system, although an
external duct is far more secure.
All rods should have their connection with the copper strap exothermically bonded. Among the
manufacturers supplying the molds and fusing material, in the U.S.A. name Erico, Inc and Alltec Corp. If
you are not equipped for this operation, a locking system made of clamps could be used like lockers
provided by Tyco Electronics.

At left a way to bind a guy wire to the ground using a connector from Petuniaco. At
center, a standard roll of copper strap (2.2m x 38 mm or 75 ft x 1.5") sold by
PolyPhaser. At right if you cannot drive in the ground over 30 cm deep, the sole
alternative is to do for the best, driven for example a rod as deep as you can and
attach the strap just at ground level using a Tyco Electronics "Shear-Lok"
connector.

To disperse as much lightning energy as possible we need first to bind the domestic and the
shack/tower equipment grounds together creating a perimeter ground buried around the house and
interconnecting the utility ground with the panel/tower ground. This perimeter ground solves two
problems: it connects the otherwise separate utility and radio station grounds, and it minimizes the energy
potential beneath the house so that the structure is not forced to carry some of the strike energy.
Then you need to dissipate away the energy from the house and grounding your tower. To accomplish
this, ideally the tower should be separated from the house by 6 to 15m (20-50 ft) minimum. For security
reasons, if it can stand up independently of the house (self standing in the field or using guy-wires) the
tower must be erected 1.5 times its height away from any housing or public infrastructure as explained on
these pages dealing with this matter.
The fact to move the tower away from the house reduces also the magnetic energy flowing in the tower
that can couple with the wiring of the house. In addition you reduce the inductance of the coaxial line in
limiting the surge energy heading towards your equipment.
How to assembly the external grounding system? You need a lot of cooper straps, rods and either large
clamps or another means to connect the different parts together, good pliers and a hammer to drive rods
(and useful to fight against Thor's hammer.

From two opposite corners of the tubular base of

your tower spread out a two set of 4 radials in X-shape
as displayed at left. The radials length should be longer
than 10 m without exceeding approximatly 24 m (80
ft), a value balancing the cost of installation vs. the
benefit of a lower impedance system. However, if you
are on a low conductive soil and if you experiment too
high ground impedance, in this case you can add more
radials. Like using ground radials with vertical
antennas, it is preferable to add more short radials than
few long ones.
If you have several towers or metallic housing within
Based on Roger R. Block's recommendations,
30m
(100 ft) of each other, interconnect their respective
PolyPhaser Corp., here is a general view of the
radial
systems.
ground radials, rods and perimeter ground.
Do not forget to ground each guy anchor to the
ground system too (3 rods 50 cm long and 1 m of
strap). Bind the central rod to the anchor or easier, to
the guy wire just above the electrical insulators (above
the turnbuckle for example) using a strap.
Radials don't have to go in straight line; they can flow around obstacles but make turns as large as
possible (30 cm or 12" radius minimum).
The perimeter ground should go all around the house but some obstacles can be insurmountable
(walkway, driveway, etc). In this case a 3/4 of perimeter going around the house is better than no
perimeter ground.
Radials should be buried 15 to 45 cm deep (6-18") and connected to
vertical copper rods. These rods should be spaced approximatly twice
their length. For a rod 2.4 m long (8 ft), the space would be thus 4.8 m
(16 ft). Thus if you install four 10m long radials at the base of your
tower, you should have to drive 12 rods, 3 per radial, and bind them
with clamps. If you cannot drive into the ground deeper than 30 cm (1
ft) or so due to rocks, drive short rods 30 cm long and place them
closer, in respect with the twice-their-length rule, thus each 60 cm
from each other.
The recommended grounding using
Being given that a rod display a cylindrical region of influence
a copper strap 38mm (1.5") wide
along its axis, placed too close, their respective influence begin to
bonded to a 16 mm (5/8") rod at
overlap and the capability of the ground rod to disperse the strike
N3RR.
energy will diminished. Side effect; in trying to increase the number or
rods you only increase the cost of your installation without derive
advantages.
If you drive a long rod into the ground, drill preferably the hole mechanically in order that the rod
achieves a reasonable "connection" to the earth. Back filling a hole manually should be avoided for the
same reason.
That said, there are a lot of things that influence the quantity and length of the radials like aesthetics,
finances, property boundaries, vegetation, soil type, installation difficulties, to name just a few.
PolyPhaser for example has a whole service dedicated to just measuring and doing the calculations
appropriate to designing an effective ground system! However the general recommendations are usually
more than acceptable for an amateur radio station, both from an RF and safety perspectives.

Tower and coaxial grounding

To prevent you creating a specific external grounding system, and if you have not started yet
construction of your tower, you should take advantage of the tower's connection with the earth as part of
your external ground or Ufer ground. But be aware that if the Ufer ground is improperly constructed you
do run the risk of exploding portions of the concrete! This is to prevent such an accident that it is required
that the pieces of RE-bars that constitute the framework be electrically connected to each other, whatever
can write some radio amateur handbook on this subject. In our example this was accomplished by
welding them to the horizontal steel loops. In addition, the anchor bolts must also be electrically
connected to the RE-bars. This is a bit more difficult to accomplish since many manufacturers do not
permit them to be welded due to the possibility of changing their mechanical strength. A simple
mechanical clamp will work. As we told in tower assembling, in addition there must be at least 10 cm (4")
of concrete left between the framework and the surrounding earth.
At last, to keep the equipotential leveled, any radial coming within 1.2 m or so (4') from a metallic
object (anchor, pole, fence, etc) must be bonded to this object to prevent arcing in a strike event. Check
only that the metal properties are compatible when bonding the two objects.
Without be informed, you will probably experiment some
trouble trying to bind the ends of radials to your tower feet.
Most steel towers are galvanized in plunging them in a bath of
liquid zinc. This coating prevents the steel to oxidize. In binding
the copper strap to legs with a clamp, you will erode the zinc,
allowing the steel to oxidize and become rusty. With time, this
will cause a change in the mechanical strength of the tower and
will modify its resistance. There is a risk that during high winds
exceeding 120 km/h (75 mph) during a dozen years the tower base
bend. You can prevent the steel to oxidize in inserting a layer of
stainless steel between the zinc and the copper. Among other
brands, Brite products will help you in protecting steel thanks to
At Tift sheriff radio station one has
cold galvanizing, coating the metal with zinc to protect it from
taken advantage of the tower Ufer
rusting.
ground to bind the tower feet and
radials together. The connection was
The coaxial running along the tower from the antenna radiator
then coated with zinc to prevent steel
to the transceiver must also be grounded as shown in the previous
from rusting
drawing. The first grounded point is just at the top of the antenna,
where the coaxial feeds the antenna. The second point is at the
tower feed, just before it leaves the tower to the shack.
The grounding point must be taken off as close to the base of the tower as possible. If you installed a
very high tower, additional ground points must be taken off each 25 m or 75 ft as measured from the top.
Due to the height of a tower, that can exceed 33 m or 100 ft at radio contest stations, there can have a
voltage difference between the top and the base that exceeds 100 kV! At 10% of that height, thus a bit
higher than the height of a man, there is still 10% of that energy or 10 kV that can easily follow the
coaxial cable to your shack. Therefore it is very important that this ground connection be established as
close to the base as physically possible; 10 cm over the base is a good distance for our tower 33m high
since we get a voltage difference of only 30V. For a 10m high (33 ft) tower, the take-off point can be at
30 cm high (1 ft) or so above the base.
The grounding coaxial kit is different from a coaxial surge protector. This is totally other product. It
can be purchased to any manufacturer of grounding kit. Don't forget to protect the interface with a
weatherproof product. Like with anchors in connecting the ground kit to the tower is aware that dissimilar

metals can corrode the steel of the tower. Coat them with appropriate products like the one sold by
Anchor Guard.

I will survive
What about the lightest installations? I am aware that not all amateurs have a tower in their garden. If
this is of your concern, you will probably search for an external grounding system close to your house.
But do not select any kind of support. Do not use neither the electrical system, nor the metal building skin,
nor any pipe (metal cold water or stand pipe) to create your external ground. At worst use the building
steel but even this framework is not the best RF ground and is highly inductive compared to a true
external grounding system.
The purpose of the lightning grounding system is to survive to the lightning strike by ensuring that no
current will flow to your equipment using the I/O wires and cabling system. This is mainly accomplished
creating a single point ground panel to keep a same level of potential during a strike event independently
of how the SPGP is grounded.
Don't forget neither to leave the ham shack during a threat of a thunderstorm if you installed a SPGP.
Even if there is no current that flow between your equipments and on the SPGP, there are static because
you are placed above the ground level compared to the external grounding system. If you take the risk to
hold your metallic microphone in hand or to touch the chassis of a metallic gear during a strike event, for
dame Nature you will be the object displaying the lowest impedance. During the strike event there is no
doubt that the current will flow through you from all protected devices, including the chassis of your
transceiver to the ground.
Thunderstorms detectors being able to warn you when there is a lightning
activity within 15 km around your radio station, it is better to leave the room
as soon as you see or hear the thunder. As your equipment is grounded you
can leave them powered-on. This is a practice that follows all radio
broadcasters and equipments remotely operated like repeaters, which emitters
and amplifiers cannot be switched off at each strike event.
Of course like me you have probably heard many people telling that,
An Obo Bettermann
although they were protected, they were stroke by a direct lightning strike,
lightning
controller to place
and more than once coming back via the ground path. Sometimes there was
in your electricity
also either a coaxial or another device that was not protected... To reinforce
distribution panel.
your security, I suggest you to insert a second stage protection in placing
surge protectors in each single outlet system as well as lightning controller in
your main distribution panel.

Artificial ground tuner

At last, if you live in a building, accomplishing a good RF ground will be difficult at best. The good
new, however, is that most installations do not necessarily require such a protection. If you have a well
balanced antenna/feed line system, your installation is probably safe. If you erected a beam or a vertical
antenna on the roof, then of course you need to protect your system. If you use a wire antenna and you
have a relatively poor RF counterpoise or ground system, you might look into an "artificial ground", like
the MFJ-931 tuner from MFJ Enterprises. This device can successfully resonate a random length ground
wire and make the station "see" an effective counterpoise.
At last advice. If you live in an apartment, make sure that your station is at least at DC ground (ground
all the equipment chassis to a common point and then to a good DC ground) and keep the lightning
ground outside the house.

By way of conclusion

There are some very important notions to remember:

- One cannot suppress lightning
- It is quasi impossible to build a system strong enough to compensate the effects of lightning.
So our sole alternative is to search for solutions to reduce this risk (a direct strike or by induction) in
applying the same rules than the ones used for plumbing: build a drain system to evacuate and dissipate
the energy of lightning away from our electrical devices.
The installation of such an electrical system or the modification of a lightning conductor should be
made by skilled people or entrusted to a specialized enterprise, expert in HF installations. This work has
to overhang all elements to protect. This is a very important subject, complex, which requests deep
knowledge.
If you are novice in this field, before investing in this equipment I suggest you to read several technical
books about the subject, to follow maybe some courses, to question specialists and to plan on paper all
your installation. If you consider that you can handle the project alone, if you are ready to invest the price
requested in both time and money, go ahead, otherwise reduce your scope and phone maybe an expert.
When your plan is achieved do ask an expert to check your project before beginning the real installation
in the field. That is worth much more than hazards your incur in doing this work "at best", maybe without
know-how, and see your ham shack be transformed in a sink and burn at the first strike event ! Take care.