Antenna Grounding & Lightning Protection

This has been a recent topic of interest in our on-air discussions. Many good references are available for understanding this subject and for developing a design specific to your station configuration.

A very good, concise starting point is a 2-page article in the August 2006 QST, page 48, titled A Down to Earth View of Station Grounds. This article includes the following link to additional information from the ARRL Technical Information Service. Included there are links to a 3-part article series Lightning Protection for the Amateur Radio Station, published in QST in 2002, that gives detailed design methods and devices for protective grounding. This and earlier articles are available as downloadable PDF files.

Additional web links are included at the ARRL Technical Information Service page for other published articles and commercially available protection devices.

This year QST published (February & April issues) a 2-part article titled Lightning: Understand It or Suffer the Consequences. This article goes into some depth about the behavior of ground systems when exposed to lightning events.

Other links that may be of interest are:
Tower picture gallery that shows details of one ham's tower grounding design
A tutorial on NEC Article 810 – Radio and Television Equipment

Feel free to post your comments here. You can post as anonymous or with your name / callsign, if desired. You do not need to have a Google ID to participate.

Huntsville Hamfest Photos

Several photos from the 2008 Huntsville Hamfest are now posted in the Bell Ringers group photo section. Thanks to W4UOA and W4BXI for capturing these views.

N9N Special Event

I've posted some audio recordings of the N9N special event station here. Also included is a link to the report by N4KC.

Morse Code Alive and Well

BBC News published this video report on the continuing popularity of CW among hams in the UK. Thanks to Joe KA4ZCO for notifying us about it.