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Old 25-Jul-2012, 11:31 PM   #6
westom
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by OTAtime View Post
For example, a case where antenna is approx 30' from earth ground rod in the attic.
The mast would be earthed to connect electricity from the cloud harmlessly to earth. But your mast is inside the attic. There is no harmless path from a cloud to that mast.

A lightning rod, outside and above, will connect lightning harmlessly to earth. Don't earth the mast hoping lightning will blow through the roof. Earth a lightning rod so that lightning does not even strike the roof or mast.

Protection is always about the electrical path a surge (ie lightning) uses to connect to earth. If that path is a wire from a lightning rod to a better earth ground, then nothing is destroyed. What always defines protection? Not a lightning rod and not a protector. Protection is defined by the quality of its connection to earth.

If a best connection to earth is via the lightning rod, then the roof and attic mounted mast are best protected.

Last edited by GroundUrMast; 26-Jul-2012 at 2:57 AM. Reason: Deleting off-topic comments
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