Lightning Protection and the Ham Radio Operator.

Decided to throw out a quick video about lightning/grounding since I have had numerous questions about it.
This was a spur of the moment video, so forgive the mess you see :)
I just scratched the surface on grounding, but it give you a good starting point to think about.
Music Credit:
Song 1 Epidemicsound.com Mandolin Summer
Song 2 Bensound.com Funnysong
hamhomestead
Email: [e-mail]

[@AB1Vampire]

That's some beautiful country there.

[@stevemetts6206]

Good Job! thanks for taking the time to do this video, very informative!

[@ksfixitmangaming617]

Another great video. I really like when you go in to tech mode. I used one of those grounding clamps and now I'm glad i sold that property. Iv said this before and ill say it again I like how you cover so many different things. Will be looking forward to your next video......yes the cut in funny remarks are nice to. Be safe.

[@olivei2484]

Like the tech talk. I'll vote for more.

[@craigszwed]

You raise some good points, including direct lightning strikes. A year ago I lost a disconnected 300ft endfed, in my oaks, to a direct strike that vaporized it and claimed several appliances in the house. This year I put up 2 more outside antennas but built an outside lighting junction box so that I can do quick physical disconnection before storms hit. You might enjoy my outside lightning/grounding/junction box system. I cover the build and connection over several videos. I, too, now use multi rod grounding. 2 days ago we had several very close strikes so that I couldn't even count to 1 before the thunder clapped. But, even though my antennas were up and in vicinity of the strikes there was no damage. I did analyzer test after the storm finished. Bless God we didn't get hit.

[@craigszwed]

@John Cliff definitely Jesus watching over this aging ham, John.

[@BradSnyder1]

Very informative! Thanks for sharing!

[@Subgunman]

I prefer the Cadweld joints on grounds when I worked in the industry years ago in the States. Moved to the island of Crete a decade ago and I have learned a whole new way of grounding the service entrance point at the meter. Electric company here requires a minimum of three ground rods mounted in a delta fashion with each leg being two meters apart. Soil is almost non existent and plenty of rocks. I can see why the more the merrier helps on rocky soil. We have had side streamers hit our solar water heater on the roof. Net result is hearing a loud crack in the breaker box and the whole house GFCI cutting off. ( all new and existing electrical service must have these breakers installed to prevent electrocutions) we have also experienced several hits of streamers on our fireplace chiminy and discharging onto the floor with a loud crack. Looking to instal a hedgehog dissipater up on the service deck of the house and having it grounded. I'll let the pros do the work, getting to old to climb towers or any other high stuff. This will also be part of the solar array grounding system that I plan on installing.

[@troydavidson5661]

Good point on having the lightning arresters outside near the ground rod ! I need to mount mine out on the rod.

[@curtiss7993]

Please get into it. there is not much out there for dummies to ground their shack. I watched this and learned more than watching several others. And now have a list of changes to make to my shack. I sat on pins and needles trying to figure out what the compression fittings were, then you showed them and the tools. Thanks

[@davedennis6042]

Interesting video. I would think grounding should be a very high priority.

[@samglaim4274]

Really interesting subject.... many thanks for the video. 73

[@E_Myself_And_Irene]

great video, very informative.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

Nice one and a lot of good advice. If you think about it, they are the tallest thing around any shack and if anything is going to get hit it is likely to be them! I saw a coax sparking one in rapid fire and it was jumping from the centre conductor to the braid and it was very very bright, it started with a lot of noise in a CB and the owner disconnected the antenna and a few seconds later the sparks started jumping and within a minute it was a constant almost continuos stream of sparks. Some were jumping quite a bit and when we went outside for a look there was just a dark cloud over the area. The antenna didn't get hit but it was collecting a lot of static electricity and before it stopped you could see the flashes through the window. Then there was one almighty flash and a tree got hit only a few hundred yards away, branches were blown off the tree and fell to ground, such is the power of lightning. I have seen lightning split a tree top in half when I was a kid, there was one almighty bang and half of the top of the tree fell to the ground, we went over to look next day and sure enough there was a huge limb of the tree lying on the ground and a great big black mark all the way down the side of the tree and a hole in the ground where it went to earth with earth blown all around. You can still see the damage on that tree yet after 45 years, it never did grow any bark back on that side of the tree. Lightning is not to be messed with and those that don't take precautions are mugs, if it hit your antennas it is going to come in, kill you and do one hell of a lot of damage. Just hope you are not in your shack when it hits. I know of a CB antenna that was hit by lightning and it was earthed, the wire that earthed it was gone, just a little bit left on the grounding rod (It was into damp ground) and the antenna didn't work anymore, but the CB that was connected survived. The antenna was a Silver Rod and it has a transformer inside it to match it to 50 ohms, it was toast and the coax was melted where it plugged into the antenna, but no lightning came inside the house, you could tell where it went and it just followed the heavy earth wire right into the grounding rod. The owner, who had gone to bed was a bit shaken, but he and his CB survived, even though the antenna and the end of the coax was toast.

[@jasonquick4177]

Great video, thanks. The issue with the heating of the ground wires at sharp bends is due to the increased impedance in the wire at that point during the stroke. Lightning is not DC, it's actually a very wide RF event centered around 1MHz and going as high as 10MHz. This is why we can hear it in our HF radios. Tight bends increase inductance as high frequencies do not like to change direction quickly relative to their wavelength.

[@Uncle_Buzz]

I'm having mad antenna envy. Cheers! Chris - NI7I

[@thomashubacher2466]

Kudos, Jack!! Very valuable comments. 73 ...

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Thomas

[@deaconmn]

Hello, I'm a new subscriber and found this video very interesting. Background, I've been a ham since 1971 and have had an Extra class license for over 30 years. In addition, I spent 35 years in the phone business, all on the technical side, as a central office technician. Also, while at the phone company, we maintained our 2-way radio system, IMTS mobile phones, microwave, and point to point radios near the Canadian border (all Motorola :)). Grounding, of course, is absolutely essential for keeping millions of dollars of switching equipment up and working during storms. The one point of your video I didn't hear anything about is avoiding a difference in ground potential, as that does attract lightening. I'm interested in how you've kept all your antenna systems at the same ground potential? Also, please include a reference for the Motorola standard as I'm getting active again and will be putting up a tower this fall. In closing, you had me as a knowledgeable person, when you said you worked on commercial sites. Thanks!

[@doccpu7]

Beware beware beware. Got a few so called lightning arrestors that had no gas tubes inside just a couple small screws on the sides. No protection at all. Got ones with flush screws and some labeled 230v with big bulging screws. Tested them with a 0-230v supply with a 20k protection resistor. Big surprise. The flush screw ones were 230v rather than 90v advertised so checked the tubes. Yep 2r230's. Some sold at 90v had 230v tubes. The ones with big screws have double gas tubes rated at 230v but the tubes are meant for a center ground so 460v end to end. Bad news for most radios. So far only 1 of 8 have had what they were sold as. Beware the big bulging screw ones and check the small inset screw ones.

[@LA6UOA]

Thanks! Much to learn here! 73 de LA6UOA!

[@jamescopeland5358]

Useful information

[@rico1319]

Boy, you got it bad my friend! LOL! Nice Antenna Farm! 👍👍👍😎🇨🇱 W5PN

[@mikemcdonald5147]

I for one would love to see more. I don't think you can have too much grounding. I look at it its cheap insurance and I can't afford to buy multi thousand dollar radios or another shack so rather spend the money keeping the lightning outside best I can.

[@HamHomestead]

I have some more lined up, hopefully will get it posted within the next month.

[@johnbonvillian4417]

Lots of great information-- love the music Merry Christmas to you and your family . Be safe out there! 73 KI5FRK

[@m.k.7199]

I would like to see a video on the R56 standards

[@eugenecbell]

Hear-hear, please make the R56 standard video.

[@slshock]

Would like to see the inside of your shack. Good video and info. One word, cable management. LOL! 73.

[@AndrewMurphy8383]

i use to work climbing tower comucation and ham radio and they do not go down and but some times they do from lighting

[@johnpeterson7264]

Could you talk some more about the copper compression fittings ? I have been researching this - or trying to - and it seems like the choice of which crimpet for which wire and which Crimp Die to use and which tool that it fits into is literally a dark art. I am hoping actually to use one of the imported (

[@HamHomestead]

John, I sure will. I never really thought it about, but I think you are right about he dark art. If I was not in profession of using them quite often I would have not known anything about them.

[@richardrobertson1331]

For it being a hobby, I'm impressed with you having such an extensive antenna farm. So how long has it been since you have used your local repeater? I winter in Seaside, Oregon and spend the rest of the year in central Utah and there seems to be at least 2 or 3 repeaters withing range and available the entire route. Even a town as small as Seaside has three repeaters. I guess my question relates to the actual need for an antenna farm, given the maintenance a farm requires contrasted with the rich availability of repeaters. Love your posts, regardless of the topics. You make them all interesting. 73

[@HamHomestead]

Hi Richard, We had 4 local repeaters that I took care of. They all used to have a good amount of traffic on them but in recent years it has dwindled to practically nothing, so much so that I wound up taking two of them down just because I do radio work for a living and having to run up and perform work on my days off on repeaters that never get used was enough. The antenna farm is all HF for the most part, something repeaters will never be able to replace. Since I work on VHF/UHF and Microwave equipment for a living it has lost its shine for me for a hobby as well, but HF is always magic. Hopefully that answers that...lol 73

[@mikeblanch8024]

thanks for putting out a great video, so much to learn so little time, so I just try to do what I can, I,m putting up an aluminum fold down mast for 34 feet weighs 105 lbs at 65 I can manage that weight safely and gotta small hand winch in the plan in case and will be putting in a ground rod next to it,s 10 inch diameter reinforced concrete ground pylo 4 feet down. VHF/UHF ops. I will be running lmr 400 from top on J pole with 10 ft round air balun to ant base ???? is this the point with Gnd rod to connect Lightning protector and then from LP onto radio. Ie this then will be two lengths of coax joined by LP will we have some decibel loss here??, I think it may be worth it., I know little so all is absorbed, ps I have also heard of grounding the braid before shack entry from a few seasoned Hams like yourself, so there must be something to it, not all good things are also written down. we out here in the east north of the border have CEC you have NEC they converse. I also have a 20 /15/40 meter inverted v on an endfed strung up through a maple on a pulley 32 feet up I got a ground by that but not connected yet just a groundpoise??? Your feed back would be appreciated. Keep the good vids coming , sorry for the long story, Mike VE9MWB

[@jennifer86010]

Thanks for this video. You have an impressive station, and impressive radio experience. Could you please do another lightning strike prevention "How To" type of video for the thousands of average Hams who operate from a very modest "shack". Hams who operate only a couple of radios, an amplifier, and an antenna tuner, feeding a simple H.F. dipole connected to trees or their house. This would be very helpful. Thanks for your help.

[@HamHomestead]

Yep, got it on my list... just need to find some time!

[@jennifer86010]

@@user-lp3cf5yn5b You're best and safest bet is to disconnect your antenna feed lines from your house and ground them outside of your home, away from your home. You can watch numerous videos on lightning. Hundreds of thousands of volts at hundreds of thousands of amperes can travel down a wire and literally rip a streak of fire through your wall, floor and anything in its path. No lightning arrester you will ever build will be strong enough to stop lightning. If thunder storm come, it's best to disconnect feed lines from your house. Watch some videos on the effects of lightning entering your home. It will scare the S*&T out of you !!

[@sciencegadgetry]

Thanks for the video. I have a quick question. I'm basically a SWL just getting back into the hobby after a 30 year hiatus. Currently retired and very limited budget. A few weeks ago, I strung up a nearly invisible (22 gauge) magnet wire 100 foot wire about 15 feet high among several trees in the yard. I have yet to ground it because I wasn't sure how to proceed. I would guess that with wire this thin and at the height it is, that lightning wouldn't be interested but there's no guarantee so here's what I've done at the present time. The wire comes to the window and hooks into a 9:1 unun, the other side of which is 50 ohm coax. For now, I have a quick disconnect on the wire. I can detach just the wire and there's a small weight on it to allow me to fling it out into the yard about 15 feet away from the house. When I'm ready to use it again, I can reel it back up to the window as its attached to a fishing line. Thoughts?

[@hgfhghghgfhfghgfhghg538]

Hey mate not sure if you still monitor your ch but I have a question. I just have a small 27mhz CB setup in my house with a old station master antenna on a j pole not very high up. am about to put a stake in the ground for a earth. Am I better just to mount the earth wire to the base of the antenna or to use a lighting arrester at the antenna side of the feedline and have that to the rod. Thx for your reply

[@HamHomestead]

I do monitor it, just been really busy the last couple weeks. So to answer your question, if you can do both that would be preferred. Always try and ground the antenna if you can and then have a good lightning protector before it enters your house. Make sure the the protector is grounded well, I suggest at least 1 eight foot ground rod.

[@devossander]

Your tower or mast are only ground on the bottom? Notting on the top of the tower some thing in the sort of spikes Voor where the lighting should hit? Or is this not necessarily because I trying to learn more about it for my omnidirectional antenna because this antenna is the highest point on my mast so I don't think I can do more on top of the mast for grounding only grounding I have is coaxial en mast or pole on the bottom are grounded.

[@websterzip]

What are the ALLCOM units connecting your coax, which you have attached to your copper grounding blocks?

[@websterzip]

Never mind. Didn't take but 10 minutes to figure out the answer to my question. Really never a reason to ask questions with so much information available on the internet.

[@artur8403]

tell more about coax lightning arrestors. Do gas tubes work or not? Any statistics on these?

[@dtv5362]

My discone antenna is mounted 60 feet high on a 4 story apartment building with no earth ground. I disconnect the coax during storms and it arcs. What would happen if my antenna took a direct strike? I am on the top floor and the coax comes in my bedroom window 8 feet from where I sleep. Could I be in danger during a storm?

[@ths3900]

Better than I have.

[@davidenglund]

Hi, thanks for this excellent video. I just want to run a couple links into my townhome. Have an 8 foot rod I'll sink in the yard. And I those worthless fittings you mentioned. Do you have a link to the compression fittings you spoke of? Thanks much. KF0ETU.

[@Dreamwoodinternational]

You don't mention whether you disconnect your antenna cables within the outside box when a storm approaches. I expect that you leave everything connected at all times and rely on the earthing and suppressors for protection - is that correct? I am still debating whether to mount my connection box on the outside wall of the Shack or at the base of the 10m mast which is about 12m from the house/shack - suggestions? 73 from Australia

[@HamHomestead]

I do leave it connected 90% of the time. If I happen to be home when a big storm rolls through I may disconnect things, but most of the time I am not home when they come through. 73

[@nathancross405]

What about bonding house ground to the antenna/equipment ground

[@HamHomestead]

That's what I do. It's a good method.

[@CharlesSmith-dr7bt]

Thanks, good job. Charles, Aj4th

[@cfcreative1]

This is the best way to protect from lightning. Make your tower out of non conductive material. In case of a lightening strike your wire will just disintegrate before the strike ever gets farther then a foot.

[@HamHomestead]

LOL

[@OldSloGuy]

Grounding becomes a judgement call. The most important thing for a ham is to understand the principles and risks at your site. We do not have unlimited resources nor do we want to blindly adhere to what some lawyer thought was a good idea to protect other's interests. Many of our codes are there to promote expensive measures of dubious effectiveness. The members of a trade association were looking for a payday, so they had their lawyers write the model code. Unfortunately, our political class responded favorably to these efforts. Very little of what we do gets inspected by local government employees. So, you are almost on your own. The effective application of personal judgement requires knowledge. What is missing from the codes is the why factor. Nobody in San Diego would worry about ice storm protection, but the codes also have to work in Montana. While this hazard is obvious, there are others that are not. That the codes are mostly obscure is unfortunate for those seeking to understand the why's. Essentially, our governments don't want you to think for yourself. To quote a late friend, "An expert is someone from downtown or out of town."

[@garyzimmerman8679]

That maybe the best way, but not everyone can afford $4000 for a tool that we use a few times. No one around my area. So I have to use what I can get.

[@AtomicCowboy239]

MOTOROLA RULES!!! HA

[@edgoyette3410]

I just disconnect my coax and disconnect ac power my rig is far from a shot ground

[@eugenecbell]

But isn’t your antenna wire coming in to your house where you and your family are? What will stop the lightening from making a path through your antenna to inside your house?

[@kk7dinhamradio]

This dude doesn’t know what he’s talking about! I’m an electrician and I can say that acorn-type grounding clamps are just fine if installed correctly and are used every day for ground rods installed for lightning on every home in the country. Also, he used 10AWG wire for his lightning grounds, which would vaporize if actually struck by lightning. He SHOULD have used 6AWG, which is much heavier and can take a hit without blowing up.

[@philepstein524]

I wish you'd use a wireless lapel or boom mic like David Casler. The hollow sound and background noise is irritating to us older hams.