Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]() I've been following this for a week or so and I've read all the posts that made it to my ISP on the subject. I won't re-iterate the concerns voiced by others in this forum, but I would like to add a couple of points in addition to those already brought up. I looked up his address from QRZ.com and plotted it on Google Earth, then referenced location to the lightning-days map found in the Wireman's Fourth Edition Wire Book. If that chart is correct, his area of the state gets somewhere on average of 80-100 days a year with lightning. Above average, that's for sure. Luke said : Take a closer look at his photos ! snip Inadaquate ground wires from guy cables to ground rods. The trees or light pole will explode is the cables take a hit. Same for the tower ground wires, insufficient not to NEC specs. That grounding setup is a joke, and a bad one at that. At the VERY LEAST, ground each leg to it's own 8 to 10' ground rod, tie all three together, and tie THAT circle to the service ground with 2/0 cable. Let's also look at his feedlines while we're at it. It runs at a sharp angle from the tower to a high point on the house, then right along under the roof. From everything I've ever read, that's probably the worst way to run cables from a lightning perspective. I've always been of the opinion that one should run cables straight to ground-level, make a nice big gentle 360-degree loop, then route at ground-level to the station, or buried. in pipe, etc., and preferably with another gentle 360-degree loop. Judging by the rest of the pictures, I think it may be a safe bet that those cable ties are of the 2000-for-$5 variety, and not UV-resistant, so wait a couple of years (if the whole kit-n-kaboodle lasts that long), and see how well they hold. I read this gentleman's entry on QRZ.com, and he proudly mentions his lovely wife, kids and grand-kids. For their sake, and for the love of all that's good and right, I implore Mr. Johnston to please consider their safety if they reside at this location. It's one thing to Darwinate yourself in a somewhat spectacular manner of your own concoction, but it would be a terrible shame to see harm come to these innocent folks because of a few (dozen) shortcuts that were taken in pursuit of a hobby. There are hundreds, if not *thousands* of Web sites that give good advice on setting up a tower, even a modest one with realtively-small antennas on it. I sincerely hope Mr. Johnston avails himself of the advice given on them, and here. As an after-thought, I was looking at this evening's track map of Hurricane Dennis....this whole thread may be moot by now! 73 de Peter, W2IRT (ex-AB2NZ, VE3THX) Please reply to Double-you Two Eye Are Tee at Arrl.net |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Forum | |||
AD5TH Tower Project Completed - Pics Online | Antenna | |||
AD5TH Tower Project Completed - Pics Online | CB | |||
Tower Resonance Breaker? | Antenna | |||
Single ground | Antenna | |||
Is lighting nuts? | Antenna |