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Amateur Radio Station KC9CS

I live in west central Florida..the lightning capital of the USA. Several years ago lightning struck real close, I'm not certain it hit my 65' tower in the back yard because all my gear was disconnected and survived. But, in my radio room 5 feet of ceramic tile were blasted off the concrete floor of the house. The phone box on the house side was blown off the house (we have underground utilities.) The phone connection at the street was blown apart and the lid blown 95 feet from the underground connection. I lost a television, 3 cable boxes, and the upper left part of my circuit box in the garage was toasted. Polyphaser was greatly interested in the damage, and hugely helpful in assisting me in making sure I didn't suffer the damage again. They even hooked me up with a local Florida Power 3 day symposia on lightning protection for facility managers! I installed the best protection Polyphaser has, and have not had any problems (thank God) since. ALL points, tower, gear, antennas, and your home panel ground MUST be tied together so that ALL points rise together in a voltage spike and fall together with a voltage drop. ANY differential between any two points on the system and you get current and damage. All points on your station must be individually tied to a common ground...no daisy chaining them or you get ground loops. And there's NO substitute for using the proper protective equipment. In my case...it's Polyphaser. Not inexpensive, but the cost of rebuilding from a direct hit wouldn't be either. In west central Florida I have to err on the side of overprotection.

73, de KC9CS
Bill

Equipped for coverage from 160M to 70cm, using the Yaesu FT-847 Earth Station. The antenna for HF is a 3 element Mosley Classic 33 at 55ft. Above that is a 19 element 2M Cushcraft yagi (62ft.) and a 7 element 70cm Cushcraft yagi, both set for FM polarization. I'm active using the digital modes such as PSK-31 and computer RTTY/CW. One of the latest projects is improving the entire system to protect against lightning damage here in "The Lightning Capital of the U.S." -- west central Florida. The following pictures illustrate some of the improvements.

This picture shows the coax grounding at the tower top. Each antenna coax is fitted with PL-259 connectors to a barrel connector which is secured into a bronze ground rod clamp. This clamp is secured to the tower with stainless steel screws and a stainless plate between the clamp and tower to prevent galvanic action against the tower. Each connection is weather sealed with 3M Super 33+ tape and covered with COAX-SEAL to prevent water infiltration. Note also the black rubber shield which covers the thrust bearing.

This picture shows the coax grounding at the tower bottom. The plate is stainless steel and 2" Copper ribbon connects the tower to ground rods throughout the yard. Each cable coming down the tower is grounded at the top and base of the tower. The copper ribbon is sandwiched between a compression bar and the stainless plate with the use of a copper based antioxidant grease to lower resistance from oxidation. Underground the ribbon connects to UL listed 5/8" X 10'copper clad ground rods using Polyphaser rod to ribbon clamps and the copper based antioxidant grease. Again, these fittings are sealed with the 3M tape and COAX-SEAL

This photo shows the external bulkhead panel outside the house. Once again, the coax shields are grounded to the panel and if you look closely you can see the 2" copper ribbon that connects to the ground system. Behind the coax bulkhead you can see the red insulators that insulate the 3/8" copper bulkhead from the house. You can also see the 2" copper ribbon that bonds the external bulkhead panel to the internal bulkhead. These connections and the panel are covered with a fiberglass weatherproof housing (not shown).

Here you can see the inside bulkhead where the grounds from ALL the individual pieces of radio gear are connected, you can see the Polyphaser DC Block ground connectors which shunt the Center conductor to ground if peak voltages occur and the rotor cable connector which grounds the 8 wire rotor cable if peak voltages are sensed. Note the panel is all copper, the green wires are the individual radio grounds and the low pass filter is bonded to the panel. Note the 2" copper strap that connects directly to the external bulkhead and the entire single point ground system.

As a backup antenna I use a Hustler 5 BTV ground mounted. There is a pattern of radial wire that was run throughout the back yard several years ago. The tower/single point ground work ties into the vertical ground as shown here.

This is the overall plan for the single point ground system. The tower, the vertical antenna, all ground rods, the external bulkhead (and internal) and the utility main ground are all bonded together. Over a dozen ground rods are used and over 200 ft of 2" copper ribbon. And a whole lotta diggin' was done!

Here are a couple of photos showing the tower base while being constructed. The first shows the 3 cu. yd hole with a ten foot post section driven to a depth of 13 feet. Surrounding this is the re-bar cage for reinforcing the pour as well as serving as the "Ufer Ground". Unseen due to the depth are 4 ground rods, one for each corner driven flush to the bottom of the hole. All this was electrically bonded together and connected to the mounting plate base bolts seen in the second picture with a form. The start of the 3 yd concrete pour can be seen.