As a retired Prof telecoms engineer, take my word for it, you get a direct hit, nothing will protect you. I have seen gaseous arrestor tubes with hole drilled in them by lightening, and multi wire plastic insulated cable melted into a solid mass. Put your antennas outside during a local thunderstorm and be safe.
I agree. After thirty years in the Telecomm industry I found lighting is unstoppable on a direct hit. Now on a nearby hit/charge that will help, maybe. Good luck to you.
@@bpjr1899They work for lots of indirect hits around you. In the South where I am with lots of lighting you need these and they will be typically blow yearly. Yes I disconnect my radio when not in use. Will they stop a direct hit no nothing will. But using best practices it does really help.
I bet what it does protect against is the lightning leaders that never connect to the main discharge. There are a lot of these with every lightning that strikes the ground. They bridge a potential of at least a million volts (that would form a 40 inch/1m spark) so they would easily discharge through a spark gap. But they don't carry much charge, and they fizzle out before causing much damage -- except for the ONE that connects to the main lightning channel. They would still fry electronics if fed into a transceiver directly, but a well grounded arrestor might limit the damage or prevent it.
Thanks for covering all three and saying "not an EMP solution" I'm not in a lightning prone area but still have one - just like my spare tire, flash light, life insurance, and other things I think will never been used. Please connect the lightning arrestor to the ground rod of the service entrance where the power comes in. Keep the whole house at one low potential. Dirt is not a good conductor. Dirt created voltage shells or steps very easily. Ask any lineman who works around 138KV or higher. They are told to keep the feet together and "bunny hop" to safety. EDIT - when a line hits the ground or during a ground fault test. Sorry, forgot to include that part. The 138KV line is not in the air. It may have been hit or fallen to the ground.
The Poly Phaser can destroy your receiver front end if a slow static buildup charges the internal cap to the breakdown voltage of the arc gap. The cap voltage will suddenly be applied to the RX input as the output side is grounded. I keep all my coax cables disconnected when not in use. I use Alpha Delta arrestors on most antennas.
Nice explanation on the three styles. I have the AlphaDelta arrestor and their ground plate. I always wondered is there a benefit of two of the same type in series at two locations via ground rods. If you can, please comment.
Looked into Diamond arrestors (SP3000P) and these don't have just a wire/tube inside (as main wire) but thicker cylinder in middle and narrower on the sides. Chinese Diamond (CA-23RP) had just a fat wire/tube inside (similar to Alpha Delta on this video). Chinese BL-3000 were similar to Chinese Diamond and to Alpha Delta, too.
Back in the telecom days there was a lightning arrester that came apparently shorted. However if you read the instructions ….. the screw had to backed out while you watched the meter, as soon as air gap formed the arrestor was ready. 🙄 I have no idea if these actually worked but I would suspect that they would be a piece of cake to build at home. 🤔 I didn’t see anything like the gas tube though. Maybe that function occurred somewhere else?
Hello Dave, as always a great presentation for those of us who are ignorant about a lot of things. At the club I’ve heard say that ALL antennas should have an arrestor but I wonder, is one still required for antenna installed in the attic? I mean if it’s struck by lightning I’ve got a greater loss than my radio gear… 73 WP4TGK
I'm not sure but years ago I had statically charged rain on my long wire with sparks jumping across maybe half an inch onto the wall. I suspect static would not build up on an indoor aerial but even so I always unplug any aerial, indoor and outdoor after using my radio. G4GHB.
So aside from needing bias T voltage for an active receive antenna, if we were going to nit-pick, would Morgan be the safest bet? Seems like their style of arrestors have multiple pathways to ground and would be technically (though maybe to a negligible level?) the safest option? I dunno I’m not an EE but that’s just how it looks to me. 🤷🏻♂️
I use Alpha-Delta because I have remote antenna switch out near my antennas. Guess what controls the relays in the external remote switch? DC voltage from the shack via the Coax feed cable. Guess what happens if you use the other two types of arresters? DC is blocked by the internal caps on those other two types of Arresters!!
Lightning arresters? Maybe they should be called static discharge devices. These won't survive a lightning strike. Many years ago one rainy night I was in bed and opened my eyes because something was happening but not sure what it was. I became aware of a blue flash and turned to look, after a short time it occurred again. A blue spark jumping from my long wire which came through the window and dangled down the wall. Jumping across maybe half an inch or so, what voltage could have been present I have no idea. No lightning in our area but statically charged rain which I had heard of years before.. I made sure I always unplugged aerials from the set after use and glad I did. G4GHB.
Congratulations, you recreated the famous Benjamin Franklin experiment! Ben was a huge proponent of lightning rods. Properly- and always-connected outdoor grounding/bonding would have drained the static that you observed.
As a retired Prof telecoms engineer, take my word for it, you get a direct hit, nothing will protect you. I have seen gaseous arrestor tubes with hole drilled in them by lightening, and multi wire plastic insulated cable melted into a solid mass. Put your antennas outside during a local thunderstorm and be safe.
I agree. After thirty years in the Telecomm industry I found lighting is unstoppable on a direct hit. Now on a nearby hit/charge that will help, maybe. Good luck to you.
@@bpjr1899They work for lots of indirect hits around you. In the South where I am with lots of lighting you need these and they will be typically blow yearly. Yes I disconnect my radio when not in use. Will they stop a direct hit no nothing will. But using best practices it does really help.
I bet what it does protect against is the lightning leaders that never connect to the main discharge. There are a lot of these with every lightning that strikes the ground. They bridge a potential of at least a million volts (that would form a 40 inch/1m spark) so they would easily discharge through a spark gap. But they don't carry much charge, and they fizzle out before causing much damage -- except for the ONE that connects to the main lightning channel. They would still fry electronics if fed into a transceiver directly, but a well grounded arrestor might limit the damage or prevent it.
@@thuff3207 Put a couple of 90 degree turns in your ground wire and the power hit will blow through it like an arrestor! HAHA...Good Luck to you!
Thanks for covering all three and saying "not an EMP solution"
I'm not in a lightning prone area but still have one - just like my spare tire, flash light, life insurance, and other things I think will never been used.
Please connect the lightning arrestor to the ground rod of the service entrance where the power comes in. Keep the whole house at one low potential. Dirt is not a good conductor. Dirt created voltage shells or steps very easily. Ask any lineman who works around 138KV or higher. They are told to keep the feet together and "bunny hop" to safety.
EDIT - when a line hits the ground or during a ground fault test. Sorry, forgot to include that part. The 138KV line is not in the air. It may have been hit or fallen to the ground.
The Poly Phaser can destroy your receiver front end if a slow static buildup charges the internal cap to the breakdown voltage of the arc gap. The cap voltage will suddenly be applied to the RX input as the output side is grounded. I keep all my coax cables disconnected when not in use. I use Alpha Delta arrestors on most antennas.
Thanks!
Thank you for your financial support of this channel! It is greatly appreciated! 73, Dave, KE0OG
Thank you, Dave. N0QFT
Thank you David, that wasa very good explanation of the workings of a lightning arrester.
David HS0ZQA
Excellent video for lighting arrester..... It helped me to clear some doubts..... Thanks.. d e VU2TPF, India
Great Job!
Thank You :)
I dare say if you had a direct strike nothing much would survive. The Morgan looks interesting.
Nice explanation on the three styles. I have the AlphaDelta arrestor and their ground plate.
I always wondered is there a benefit of two of the same type in series at two locations via ground rods. If you can, please comment.
Looked into Diamond arrestors (SP3000P) and these don't have just a wire/tube inside (as main wire) but thicker cylinder in middle and narrower on the sides. Chinese Diamond (CA-23RP) had just a fat wire/tube inside (similar to Alpha Delta on this video). Chinese BL-3000 were similar to Chinese Diamond and to Alpha Delta, too.
Back in the telecom days there was a lightning arrester that came apparently shorted. However if you read the instructions ….. the screw had to backed out while you watched the meter, as soon as air gap formed the arrestor was ready. 🙄 I have no idea if these actually worked but I would suspect that they would be a piece of cake to build at home. 🤔 I didn’t see anything like the gas tube though. Maybe that function occurred somewhere else?
🙏Thanks For Enlightening Us With Your Lightning Arresting Knowledge. 73 Rick: KN6UTF🙏
Hello Dave, as always a great presentation for those of us who are ignorant about a lot of things. At the club I’ve heard say that ALL antennas should have an arrestor but I wonder, is one still required for antenna installed in the attic? I mean if it’s struck by lightning I’ve got a greater loss than my radio gear…
73
WP4TGK
I'm not sure but years ago I had statically charged rain on my long wire with sparks jumping across maybe half an inch onto the wall.
I suspect static would not build up on an indoor aerial but even so I always unplug any aerial, indoor and outdoor after using my radio.
G4GHB.
So aside from needing bias T voltage for an active receive antenna, if we were going to nit-pick, would Morgan be the safest bet? Seems like their style of arrestors have multiple pathways to ground and would be technically (though maybe to a negligible level?) the safest option? I dunno I’m not an EE but that’s just how it looks to me. 🤷🏻♂️
How do you feel about Array Solutions? They seem highly rated.
I use Alpha-Delta because I have remote antenna switch out near my antennas. Guess what controls the relays in the external remote switch? DC voltage from the shack via the Coax feed cable. Guess what happens if you use the other two types of arresters? DC is blocked by the internal caps on those other two types of Arresters!!
as someone who uses Morgan Arrestors myself, I can tell you haven't looked at KF7P's website.
Only $100!
Tightly gapped spark plugs always used to allow a ground discharge. A bit more variable because they're not moisture sealed, true. But they work, no?
Lightning arresters?
Maybe they should be called static discharge devices.
These won't survive a lightning strike.
Many years ago one rainy night I was in bed and opened my eyes because something was happening but not sure what it was.
I became aware of a blue flash and turned to look, after a short time it occurred again. A blue spark jumping from my long wire which came through the window and dangled down the wall. Jumping across maybe half an inch or so, what voltage could have been present I have no idea. No lightning in our area but statically charged rain which I had heard of years before..
I made sure I always unplugged aerials from the set after use and glad I did.
G4GHB.
Congratulations, you recreated the famous Benjamin Franklin experiment!
Ben was a huge proponent of lightning rods.
Properly- and always-connected outdoor grounding/bonding would have drained the static that you observed.