Quick Disconnect?

[BigBubbaBD]

Thinking about Lightning protection for the base station. I know ground ground ground.

But alot of guys say to unplug the coax to be safe..
Do they make "coax quick disconnects?"

Say run all your inside coax from the radio, meters, filters amps and whatnot and right before it goes outside have a disconnect that can be taken apart to protect the entire inside system.

[EC 174]

I ALWAYS unplug my coax coming in from the antenna..

The only way you could have a coax quick disconnect would be a push in type like is used on some VCR type jumpers.. I don't like those and only use the screw on type..

Really, how many seconds does it take to unscrew your coax each time you're done talking ? If you don't have a few extra seconds to protect your equipment from being fried, then you must have plenty of money or feel real lucky

[BigBubbaBD]

Well its not that.. just where I have my stuff located getting to the back of it each time is a big pain in the rear.

But if I could have something hard mounted to the wall right before it goes outside to unhook would work alot better. Would not have to slide the equip thats above my head out a foot turn it sideways and unhooke it every time.

[EC 174]

You can install a wall mount coax connection that you can run your jumper to and connect it.. Instead of bringing your coax in and hooking it your meter, you would have it connected inside of the wall to a mount like your phone jack.. Then you would just undo the jumper that runs from your meter to the wall jack and be done

[38Special]

I inquired about this with a few places online and I'm told there is no such animal as a lightning proof switch. If you need lightning protection unscrew your coax and put it into a mason jar to protect your floor (carpet) from fire in the event of a strike.
I unscrew my coax always. Why? Because I have a decent setup that would be hard to replace, and I have lots of time invested already. Furthermore, I believe the deductable on my homeowners policy is $500.00, so in the end I'll probably bite the bullet for the whole thing. Just my .02 worth.

[Gadfly]

WHOA! PLEASE, PLEASE Do NOT put your coax in a mason jar! That is another one of those urban myths! Should you have a direct lightning strike, that jar will shatter into a THOUSAND pieces sending shards of glass thru the room like deadly shrapnel! I have read of people being seriously injured, even KILLED, doing this. The carpet then will likely set afire anyway!


You should either throw the feedline out the window,or, better, set up a grounding post that you can plug your coax onto. There USED to slip-on coax connectors that you could get from Radio Shack for this. Check hamfests and online dealers for these.

There is NO sure way to prevent a lightning strike, or to know that what you have done is correct! Even the preventive measure of grounding only takes away the static charges on your antenna and makes a strike less likely!

Hope this helps!! :D

Gadfly

[38Special]

Makes sense, but I've never heard of that. Maybe I'll ditch the jar and just leave it on the floor. I have a lightning arrestor on my Antron. Hopefully that will protect the house.

[Rex_foxhound]

Since we're talking about lightning and glass, a question popped into my head.

What was the purpose of the glass balls that were on lightning rods that used to be on top of houses??

I've got some old lightning rods from my great-grandparents old house and I've always wondered what the purpose of the glass balls on them was... Can anybody help me out here?

[Phaze91460]

They used to use ceramic but I never heard of using just glass.

If lighting hit your antenns, grounding your coax is a good idea BUT .....

A strike that close will go through the ground system of the house and any electronics plugged in will fry. Dont mater wether or not you have a surge protector or not.

Get better insurance.

[Gadfly]

That's absolutely TRUE! There is NO sure fire way, but the only thing one can do is unplug everything, ground the antennas, and isolate the radios from the grounds in the house. Even then, you still might get hit. Next thing? Pray hard during a thunderstorm! :D

OH, BTW. I wouldn't just leave the coax dangling on the floor. That, too, would allow a bolt to set the house afire. I'd throw it outside, or ground/short them, and isolate the equipment. One fellow I know used to tie a rope to the coax and throw it out the window, leaving the rope end inside. When the storm was over, he'd used the rope to fish it back in again!

73

Gadfly

[38Special]

Nope, no can do.
I have my coax coming up from the crawl space through the floor. If it gets hit it gets hit, not much I can do about that. I just need to dream up a better container to drop it into.
Now somebody mentioned better insurance. I have superior insurance so what you must have meant was a lower deductible? Being a homeowner the additional amount that your policy would be increased to cover the lower deductible would make it senseless unless your making a claim every year. Most deductibles are $1000.00 or more so how do you figure $500.00 being bad? Sheeez

[North Texas Mudduck]

i have a 1/0 cable coming from outside connected to a 8 foot ground rod
on this end of the cable i have a copper metal plate about 1/4 inch thick and about 2 inch wide and about foot long

drilled a hole big enough for a so-239 connector on the back take center pin and soldered wire i think 12guage then went with wire directly to the side and soldered it to the copper buss plate

so when storm comes just unscrew coax from bird and screw it into the so239 and i have never had any problems
with plenty of lightning

and if you really want to watch something put a volt meter on the end of coax and watch the voltage readings as the storm approaches

you dont have to have a direct hit to see voltage

AND WHO EVER THOUGHT OF THE MASON JAR IDEA BACK WHEN SHOULD HAVE THAT JAR STUCK IN PANTS DURING A STORM

THAT SURELY CAME FROM THE MUDDUCKIN DAYS OF 17.853 FEET OF COAX WITH 6 INCH SPRING AND 102 WHIP.

IF THAT DONT HELP YOU OUT THEN REDO THE SETUP WHERE THE ANTENNA COAX CONNECTOR CAN BE EASY TO GET TO

[North Texas Mudduck]

THE SENSORED IS C-O-P-P-E-R- BUSS

[Hamayar]

I originally come from Wales, I lived in the hills and we had a lot of big electrical storms up there.

One home made solution we used to use in the days of "High and big" antennas.

Bring the feed to a grounding point before it enters the house.

The grounding point is the trick:

1 Get a metal box big enough to screw two sparkplugs into and after cutting the holes for the sparkplugs in it, bolt a good quality electrical terminal connector big enough for a 16mm grounding cable to it.
(set the plug gaps real small, maybe at about 5 thou )

2 Get a weatherproof enclosure big enough to hold the box and some cable.

3 Drive some good quality 6 foot earth rods into the ground

4 Drill 1 entry and 2 exit holes in the enclosure and use gland fittings
or weatherproof grommets to make sure it stays dry in there.

5 Run at least a 16 mm cable from the metal box out of an exit gland to the earth rod/s

6 Run you feed from the antenna into the enclosure, connect the coax inner to the top of one sparky and the outer to the other

7 connect a coax inner to one sparky and an outer to the other sparky
and run it out of the other exit from the enclosure to be the feed into the house.


How so how does it work.

This system works fine in normal weather nothing is grounded but in the event of a big discharge energizing the antenna, then it goes to ground through the small gap in the sparkys rather than following the feed into the house and making a long jump from the unplugged pl259 to the nearest ground!


Hope this helps

[Bigpimp347 [UK]]

right first, you can buy quick connect PL plugs..
not seen them for a while but they do exsist..
i know the Yaesu FT-290/690/790 portable radios have one as the radio fit's into a quick release cradle..

as for grounding..
to be honest only ground the antenna either of the base to pole mount, usually on a electrical 'tag' and bolted to the base, then run to ground with an earth spike about 6' in the ground..
but there's no need to go overboard and earth every item, as whats the coax got on it ??
the outer braid is the earth connection betwen every item..
so as long as you use good quality coax with a good outer braid and good plugs each item should be earthed well enough by the coax..

you could connect the back of the radio to an earth that goes to ground, and i suppose you can never be to carefull..

you can get a lighten arestor for the base of the antenna which take sa wire to ground, but running serious power may arc accross to earth and you can cause some damage, so only recomended for low power..

and for your information i never disconnect the antenna, as we don't get bad storms in the UK