HOWS THE BEST WAY TO GROUND SHOOTING STAR ON 50' TOWER

[BtyMONSTER]

run a ground wire from the antenna bracket all the way down to rod

[209 first class]

gee i must be invisible or no one believes me i had answered all that stuff on the first page. you need both an rf ground, and a lightning ground. the rf ground (typically cawper strap) provides a low impedance path that the stray rf easily follows. yet you need a lightning ground from the base of the tower to the same ground rods, the cawper rf ground will not handle the energy of a lightning strike, but the tower itself would, even though its not as good as a conductor as copper, lightning isnt choosy about what it strikes. even a rusty old tower is more conductive than a tree. 209

[80 meter man]

I love the people that say a tower is in the ground therefor you don't need a lighting ground!! This is false! If lightning hits your tower and has no path to ground except through the tower base your in trouble. The lightning might very well destroy your concrete base! I've seen photos of reinforced and non-reinforced concrete tower bases in pieces from a lightning strike. How would you like to clean up that mess! A direct lightning strike will not save your radios from certain destruction but will save your tower base from destruction.