I just put my antenna on the roof (photo)
I am getting around 60% more positions then before.
However I am worried about lightning and static electricity as it is not grounded so I bring it in at night and during rain/wind. How do you guys deal with this/is this really a concern.
It depends on how much thunderstorms you have at your location.
I have 3 external antennas mounted on balconies at the 3rd floor. Since the building is 9 stories high I donât worry much about occasional thunderstorms we have here.
In your case my suspicion would be that a lightning would be hitting the lightbulbs line prior to the antenna due to the much higher voltage capability. And besides that the trees are way higher so that is also a reason to leave the antenna up in my perspective.
Okay, thanks for the advice. I also have some large 2 inch thick metal pipes in my front yard to keep out animals which would probably take a strike first. I will still bring it in during a storm but will leave it out otherwise.
Lightning can strike any house / building even if there is no antenna mounted on itâs roof. If you want protection of building and itâs occupants from lightning strikes, you have to install âBuilding Lightning Protection Systemâ, which comprises of air terminals on roof, earthing rods embeded in ground below, and thick copper strip running down from roof to ground, connecting air terminal rods to earthing rods.
For static protection of your Dongle & RPi, there are many things like surge divertors and earthing of coax etc
Most lightning surges travel over power lines, and when reach sensitive equipment at cutomer premises, damage these. There are equipment for protection from surges on power lines. It probably cost $30-100 to get the surge equipment and install it on an antenna. It cost about $5 for a power strip surge protector. Most of the time the surge comes through the power lines or data lines.
@wvzack as tom says, the probability of a strike very much depends upon how many thunderstorms you get in your area, but there are a couple of things of note - first, the nearby trees probably represent an easier path to ground for lightning, firstly because they are taller and second because they are âwetâ (the tree sap), which makes them far better conductors.
As far as static electricity is concerned, I donât see a problem - youâre not going to be connecting your antenna up to a Van de Graff generater, for example, are you?
If you still feel that you want to add some protection from strikes, Iâd be tempted to put the antenna onto the side of a metal pole, with the top of the antenna well below the top of the pole, then earth the pole as per the Lightning Protection Guide.
Thats what I had thought (the trees), for the static electricity I read that winds can cause a high amount of static electricity to build up in antennas and release into electronics attached. I think il just leave it how it is and if there is lightning il yank on the coex cord for it to fall.
