I have a similar situation. I have come to believe the most important
thing to do is assure that all of the ground rods are connected. I
have power, phone and cable service underground. I don't think I have
had a significant strike since last August when I had a company
install lightning rods on the house. They were very careful to ground
the base of the tower to one of their rods. They installed Galvanized
rods.

Another good question is whether to ground the rebar in the tower
base. I elected not to worry about it but to focus on tower grounding.

I wonder about the dishes on the tower. In times past mounting them
too high mad them vulnerable to terrestrial noise. The wind load they
contribute can be awesome.

On Tue, 27 Jun 2006 08:48:16 -0500, "Jeff Dieterle"
wrote:

I'm installing a 60ft self-supporting tower. It will have a vhf/uhf antenna
with rotator and a couple of satellite dishes on it. The tower will be set
in a concrete apprx. 4'x4'x4'. Is driving a copper clad 5/8"x8ft ground rod
and attaching a #6cu ground wire to the tower leg sufficient.
I live in a heavily wooded area and have lost several modems to lighting
strikes. Now when it looks like thunder 2 states away I unplug them on my
computers and Directv receivers.

John Ferrell W8CCW

I'm installing a 60ft self-supporting tower. It will have a vhf/uhf antenna
with rotator and a couple of satellite dishes on it. The tower will be set
in a concrete apprx. 4'x4'x4'. Is driving a copper clad 5/8"x8ft ground rod
and attaching a #6cu ground wire to the tower leg sufficient.
I live in a heavily wooded area and have lost several modems to lighting
strikes. Now when it looks like thunder 2 states away I unplug them on my
computers and Directv receivers.

What you described will do little for lightning protection except give
you a false sense of security. Surviving a direct hit requires much more
grounding and proper treatment and routing of all cables into the house.
I would highly recommend spending $20 on PolyPhaser’s book of info or at
least reading the tech notes on their web site.
Bob


Jeff Dieterle wrote:
I'm installing a 60ft self-supporting tower. It will have a vhf/uhf antenna
with rotator and a couple of satellite dishes on it. The tower will be set
in a concrete apprx. 4'x4'x4'. Is driving a copper clad 5/8"x8ft ground rod
and attaching a #6cu ground wire to the tower leg sufficient.
I live in a heavily wooded area and have lost several modems to lighting
strikes. Now when it looks like thunder 2 states away I unplug them on my
computers and Directv receivers.

Jeff Dieterle wrote:

I'm installing a 60ft self-supporting tower. It will have a vhf/uhf antenna
with rotator and a couple of satellite dishes on it. The tower will be set
in a concrete apprx. 4'x4'x4'. Is driving a copper clad 5/8"x8ft ground rod
and attaching a #6cu ground wire to the tower leg sufficient.
I live in a heavily wooded area and have lost several modems to lighting
strikes. Now when it looks like thunder 2 states away I unplug them on my
computers and Directv receivers.



Check with your local building inspector. The National Electrical Code and your
local zoning have requirements for proper grounding.

Basically, the ground at your home is the ground rod at the service panel for
your electrical service.

When I installed my last tower each leg had to be connected to an 8 foot ground
rod with #6 AWG. Each of the ground rods had to be interconnected. And, the
total connection, towers and rods, connected to the service entrance ground by
#6 AWG run EXTERNAL to the house. [Keep current OUTSIDE the house]. This met
insurance requirements. But, as mentioned in another response, it does little
for protection from a nearby or direct lightning strike to your radio equipment.

Jeff Dieterle wrote:
"The tower will be set in a concrete (block)
4`x4`x4`. Is driving a copper-clad 5/8"x8 ft. ground rod and sttaching a
#6 ground wire to the tower leg sufficient?"

Yes, if you have one rod and attachment run outside the tower base block
for each of the tower`s legs. This has worked for me countless times
with good results. Usually my ground wires were larger than #6 AWG, but
I think #6 is likely large enough to work well. The tower ground must be
well connected to the electrical service ground to meet code and ensure
the potential difference between grounds is insignificant, even during
lightning strikes.

Best regards, Richard Harrison,KB5WZI

Jeff;

Some years ago I destroyed a log of expensive ($1,000 each) IBM computer
boards because I failed to install grounding devices at the exit from
one building and the entrance of another building when I installed
remote terminals for the company computer. There was a significant
voltage difference between the two buildings even though they were only
twenty feet apart and both were well grounded by themselves. I still had
to install a bonding wire between them.

You will encounter the same situation between your tower and shack. A
few feet of copper is cheap insurance. Three hundred fifty feet will
generate significant voltage that may or may not cause you a problem.

Dave WD9BDZ


Jeff Dieterle wrote:
The tower will be 350ft from my house's service entrance ground. After
getting you-all's feedback I make sure all the rebar in the tower base is
electrically connected and the rebar is attached to a perimeter ground
system with a rod at each leg. I'm also researching what type of lighting
protecting devices I will install on the coax, this may attach to my service
entrance ground.

But I can't see the need to connect the tower grounding system to my service
entrance ground when it's 350ft away. Was meeting the insurance requirements
part of a spec. written in the policy regarding residential towers ? What
section of the NEC deals with tower grounding ?



"Dave" wrote in message
. ..

Jeff Dieterle wrote:


I'm installing a 60ft self-supporting tower. It will have a vhf/uhf
antenna with rotator and a couple of satellite dishes on it. The tower
will be set in a concrete apprx. 4'x4'x4'. Is driving a copper clad
5/8"x8ft ground rod and attaching a #6cu ground wire to the tower leg
sufficient.
I live in a heavily wooded area and have lost several modems to lighting
strikes. Now when it looks like thunder 2 states away I unplug them on my
computers and Directv receivers.

Check with your local building inspector. The National Electrical Code and
your local zoning have requirements for proper grounding.

Basically, the ground at your home is the ground rod at the service panel
for your electrical service.

When I installed my last tower each leg had to be connected to an 8 foot
ground rod with #6 AWG. Each of the ground rods had to be interconnected.
And, the total connection, towers and rods, connected to the service
entrance ground by #6 AWG run EXTERNAL to the house. [Keep current OUTSIDE
the house]. This met insurance requirements. But, as mentioned in another
response, it does little for protection from a nearby or direct lightning
strike to your radio equipment.

Jeff Dieterle wrote:
I'm installing a 60ft self-supporting tower. It will have a vhf/uhf antenna
with rotator and a couple of satellite dishes on it. The tower will be set
in a concrete apprx. 4'x4'x4'. Is driving a copper clad 5/8"x8ft ground rod
and attaching a #6cu ground wire to the tower leg sufficient.
I live in a heavily wooded area and have lost several modems to lighting
strikes. Now when it looks like thunder 2 states away I unplug them on my
computers and Directv receivers.

Jeff,

You really need to go to professional sources and not listen to advice
from random internet responses on safety issues. There is so much
folklore and pure bunk that is accepted as fact that it can really get
you in trouble.

Look at the polyphaser web site and read their techninal notes
carefully.

The single most important thing is cable routing and bonding of
equipment to common points.

Most lightning damage people get isn't from tower hits, it is from hits
on power lines that flow back through the house to grounds!

Every cable entering the house should be grounded to ONE common point.
That includes telco, cable TV, power mains, your station ground, and
all your cables entering the house. That is a NEC requirement!! That's
the single most important thing you can do to prevent damage.

Everything leaving the tower should leave at the tower bottom, and be
grounded to the tower at the tower bottom, and that point shuld be
grounded to earth. That's the single most impotant thing you can do at
the tower.

73 Tom

The tower will be 350ft from my house's service entrance ground. After
getting you-all's feedback I make sure all the rebar in the tower base is
electrically connected and the rebar is attached to a perimeter ground
system with a rod at each leg. I'm also researching what type of lighting
protecting devices I will install on the coax, this may attach to my service
entrance ground.

But I can't see the need to connect the tower grounding system to my service
entrance ground when it's 350ft away. Was meeting the insurance requirements
part of a spec. written in the policy regarding residential towers ? What
section of the NEC deals with tower grounding ?



"Dave" wrote in message
. ..
Jeff Dieterle wrote:

I'm installing a 60ft self-supporting tower. It will have a vhf/uhf
antenna with rotator and a couple of satellite dishes on it. The tower
will be set in a concrete apprx. 4'x4'x4'. Is driving a copper clad
5/8"x8ft ground rod and attaching a #6cu ground wire to the tower leg
sufficient.
I live in a heavily wooded area and have lost several modems to lighting
strikes. Now when it looks like thunder 2 states away I unplug them on my
computers and Directv receivers.

Check with your local building inspector. The National Electrical Code and
your local zoning have requirements for proper grounding.

Basically, the ground at your home is the ground rod at the service panel
for your electrical service.

When I installed my last tower each leg had to be connected to an 8 foot
ground rod with #6 AWG. Each of the ground rods had to be interconnected.
And, the total connection, towers and rods, connected to the service
entrance ground by #6 AWG run EXTERNAL to the house. [Keep current OUTSIDE
the house]. This met insurance requirements. But, as mentioned in another
response, it does little for protection from a nearby or direct lightning
strike to your radio equipment.

"Bob" wrote in message
. com...
What you described will do little for lightning protection except give you
a false sense of security. Surviving a direct hit requires much more
grounding and proper treatment and routing of all cables into the house. I
would highly recommend spending $20 on PolyPhaser’s book of info or at
least reading the tech notes on their web site.
Bob


Jeff Dieterle wrote:
I'm installing a 60ft self-supporting tower. It will have a vhf/uhf
antenna with rotator and a couple of satellite dishes on it. The tower
will be set in a concrete apprx. 4'x4'x4'. Is driving a copper clad
5/8"x8ft ground rod and attaching a #6cu ground wire to the tower leg
sufficient.
I live in a heavily wooded area and have lost several modems to lighting
strikes. Now when it looks like thunder 2 states away I unplug them on my
computers and Directv receivers.

The Polyphaser book was the main source of data used by the company I work
to redo the grouding at many of its sites. Most sites that were being
knocked off the air nearly every time a storm came through have never had
such an outage since the new grounding was installed. $20 bucks well spent.
Installing the new grounds will cost a lot more. One of the big impovements
was to use low inductance braided cable run all the way from the air
terminals at the top of the towers to the ground rods/system. Prior to this
the tower was grounded by a cable connecting the base of the tower to the
ground system. Much more was done which included grounding coax and and
control cables where they entered the building. This was done prior to the
modification but there was now a much larger emphasis on LOW INDUCTANCE
connections. Typical change made. Coax shields were attached to ground at
the point they enter the building prior to the mod. This connection is still
there but made through copper straps instead of cables and the coax is also
grounded just before it makes a 90 degree bend to leave the tower and enter
the building. Going from several lighting related outages a year to none in
several years is a big improvement.

I have no argument with getting professional advice. I hired pro's to
install the lightning rods. They were in agreement that I should
always provide a protective ground other than my equipment. They had
no problem with the fact that I went through the basement ceiling with
a number 6 wire atttaching a cable TV ground to the power panel
ground. It was the shortest route.

When I lived in a house with copper plumbing the ground system ran all
over the houe.

On 28 Jun 2006 06:52:37 -0700, wrote:



You really need to go to professional sources and not listen to advice
from random internet responses on safety issues. There is so much
folklore and pure bunk that is accepted as fact that it can really get
you in trouble.

Look at the polyphaser web site and read their techninal notes
carefully.

John Ferrell W8CCW