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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2010 01:53:29 -0400
Message-ID: <d34900d61003252253w7b40912fi9f759e2b7737b1a6@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [OS2Wireless] Wireless router (mainly OFF TOPIC)
To: "OS/2 Wireless Users Mailing List" <os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com>
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Thank you Mike Luther for such a fascinating explanation of the issue of
lightening and what I need to consider and do to protect my gear!
This whole OT issue now takes priority-one with me, as I no longer want to
risk losing valuable gear for any time period as it takes me to figure out
what I need, and jump into the Grand-Am and hit whatever store sells what I
need!

Again, thank you.  And FTR it wasn't too wordy at all.  If I could
understand what you described (and I'm far from being the sharpest knife in
the drawer) then you did an excellent job of writing this up.  It's a
definite keeper and will soon be a PDF file to save, printout, and refer to
when needed, or if someone asks *me* about the subject of lightening
strikes.

Greg

On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 11:57 PM, Mike Luther <
os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com> wrote:

> ** Reply to note from "OS/2 Wireless Users Mailing List"
> <os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com> Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:48:16 -0400
>
> Serious professional advice from a NARTE certified Master
> Telecommunications
> Engineer since 1985 here about lightning.
>
> > Wow! That's all I can think to say about such a massive lightening strike
> and
> > the negative results. No, that's not true. I think you just convinced me
> to
> > do two things:
> >
> > 1] Buy a UPS regardless of the physical size of the unit and find room
> for it
> > no matter what! 2] Get myself some renter's insurance, regardless of the
> > monthly or yearly premium!
>
> Smart decision.  But the folks here need to know some real radio facts
> about
> lightning to make a proper decision on protection.  As a commercial
> broadcast
> engineer since even the late 1950's and even Chief Engineer for the Texas
> Aggie
> WTAW radio station back then paying my way through A&M, I offer some
> serious
> information.
>
> Lightning is *NOT* electricity as most people think about that.  It is, for
> fact, a very intense radio wave issue!  As such, it does *NOT* travel
> through a
> wire or metal object!  It actually travels on the SURFACE of it.  Further,
> since
> it is a radio wave and it oscillates, it also focuses on some frequency
> during
> the actual strike, which CHANGES as the strike takes place in those
> thousandths
> of a second!  Frequency means that, as to the stroke going through the
> atmosphere or down the surface of a tree, wire; whatever, it has a
> wavelength
> just like a broadcast station transmitter output or TV station.  Radio
> waves are
> curious, in that for each QUARTER wavelength we see a MAXIMUM current for
> MINIMUM voltage, then a reversal to a MAXIMUM voltage for a MINIMUM current
> a
> quarter wave down the path from there.
>
> The air gap voltage required in the atmosphere for an arc to proceed
> through it
> is perhaps 35,000 or so volts per inch.  Think about that.  How many
> million
> volts per bolt?  Yes, the air is burned into a conduction path, the SURFACE
> of
> which is conducting the lightning.  But wait!  Remember, a million volts at
> one
> end of the quarter wave point and maybe a thousand amperes current?  Then a
> quarter wave later a million amperes and then a thousand volts?
>  Interesting.
>
> The absolute 'intent' of a lightning bolt which travels between a cloud and
> ground, because it MUST travel on the SURFACE of the conductor, is to
> actually
> spread itself out across the SURFACE of the earth at that end of the path.
>  Well
> fine, if as part of the strike conduction path, the surface travel down to
> the
> earth terminates in such a way that on the SURFACE of whatever conductor,
> that
> surface is actually touching and bonded to the surface of the earth.  But
> in the
> case of the horrid hit described earlier here, if the metal surface of the
> conductor carries it down into a hollow shaft below the surface of the
> earth,
> and thence down the surface of the metal wires to other houses, apartments;
> whatever, the only path toward the surface of the earth will be as
> described.
> Through MASSIVE damage sites inside the building(s)!
>
> As well, because the strike is a huge magnetic pulse issue, a strike also
> radiates that same Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) out away from it.  Thus
> even
> though the strike hits your neighbor's house, the pulse lights up EVERY
> wire in
> it's path, at the speed of light, as the energy radiates away from the hit
> as
> well.  Interesting.
>
> OK, how do we REALLY protect against lightning?   Answers.
>
> That NEMA ground rod at your power meter entrance to the building is there
> generically for this reason as well as bonding the power line ground wire
> to
> ground from your electric service.  But the real problem is that this NEMA
> ground rod is driven INTO the ground!  Which does *NOT* do much good for
> the
> radio wave lighting strike which is traveling trying to reach the SURFACE
> of the
> earth.  If you really want to use this to protect your home, apartment or
> whatever, the proper way to do this is to fan out a little wire radial
> group in
> a circle around that NEMA ground rod, about six or eight feet long for each
> wire.  Like the spokes on a wagon wheel.  Which go down only a small inch
> or so
> at GROUND level from the NEMA rod.  What that does is to properly shift the
> lightning bolt to the SURFACE of the ground as it roars down the ground
> wire to
> that NEMA ground rod.  You do the same thing for the bottoms of TV antenna
> poles, metal flag poles, the wire that carries lighting arrester spikes at
> the
> top of the buidling to the ground.
>
> Further, you NEVER pass antenna wires directly into the attic or through
> the
> window into the place  - unless - you have a proper lightning arrestor
> plasma
> device which lets the shock arc through it from the SURFACE of the wire
> that
> goes into the building to a good heavy flat sheet copper strip with a wide
> surface to the ground.  And then out along the surface like the NEMA rod
> deal.
> A round wire has little surface, right?  The proper lightning ground is the
> flat
> surface of a copper strip, even though it is rather thin.
>
> Plus the proper place to put the lightning protection on the power, phone
> lines,
> TV cable system and so on is at this common place near your power meter and
> so
> on.  That to divert the bolt AWAY from the bulding.  You really want it all
> to
> be protected together from a common decent protection set of devices.  Even
> to a
> for real master protection set of devices on your meter, and NOT these
> deals you
> buy to 'protect' your stuff in the house.  Yes, the do OK for noise.  But
> not
> for lightning.  About the only thing they are good for is the insurance you
> may
> get with them too.  Scowl.
>
> Now we go inside.  But before we do please note.  OK, so the average
> quarter
> wavelength of the huge bolt is at 1 Megahertz, 1000 Khz on your AM radio
> dial.
> But the bolt also can and does have an average quarter wavelength of only
> say
> EIGHT feet as well with frequencies way up in the TV channel area at points
> in
> it's split second of lifespan.  Ouch.  Which are still traveling over the
> OUTSIDE of all the wires going through your building if you let it in too.
>
> AHA!  Now you know why in many strikes that penetrate a building, you'll
> see
> your TV blown to bits on one part of the same power circuit that doesn't
> fry
> your guitar amp eight feet away.  Hmmmmmm.   More important, there is a
> HUGE
> issue here very few people know and understand about so-called surge
> protector
> plug boxes you get to 'protect' your computer; guitar amp -- and so on.
>  These
> protector devices, at least virtually all of them, work by letting a pulse
> of
> over a couple hundred volts arc across a path to the GROUND neutral, the
> big
> round rod on a three prong power plug.  Well so what?  Remember that
> because
> lightning is a radio wave, just because it shunts the surge to that green
> wire
> ground connection, where is that, in terms of quarter wave spacing, for the
> hot
> spots on the lighting bolt as that happens?
>
> Surprise!  Ground, in this case, may not even be back toward the electric
> panel
> and the NEMA rod.  Instead, it may be actually going down the SURFACE of
> that
> same green wire INTO your computer, your guitar amplifier, your TV set!
>  Now
> watch what else ABSOLUTELY happens to virtually all modern electronic gear.
> Years ago we gave up metal transformer power supplies for such things.  All
> of
> the conversion from 120 volts or 240 volt of AC (Alternating Current) down
> the
> power lines to the DC (Direct Current) for the equipment, is done through
> what
> is now switching power supplies.  But that is a DISASTER for a voltage
> spike
> which comes IN on the green ground wire, seeking out the phone line ground,
> perhaps, or .. worse .. your PRINTER!  Because your laser printer draws a
> high
> power amount you can't pay for UPS coverage.  So you plug it in to the
> power
> plug and then connect it with a metal ground wire to your computer which is
> on
> your UPS.  Get the idea?
>
> What happens is that the lightning strike, even only a hundred volts maybe
> by
> the time it gets here, raises the GROUND foils of your computer above the
> GROUND
> level for a SURFACE radio wave for the difference of 120 volts AC to 12
> volts DC
> and...  Surprise!  If it is a 300 volt pulse, your ground foils are 30
> volts
> above ground and POOF your whole computer, guitar amp, TV set, stereo is
> blown
> to bits.  It is not at all unusual for even a strike on your neighbor's
> place to
> surge your power lines up to 600 volts or so.  Not at all.
>
> Bottom line.  The ONLY way to use a UPS to protect anything is to make SURE
> that
> your UPS uses a METAL TRANSFORMER to isolate the house from whatever you
> are
> trying to protect.  Why?   Because the lightning bolt cannot pass through
> the
> metal pig iron between the primary coil and the secondary coil wires in it.
> Thus that really DOES ISOLATE your equipment from the pulse.  But ONLY if
> you
> protect ALL of the devices on the output side.  And do *NOT* run your
> printer
> elsewhere and then connect it to your computer.  Or use any kind of phone
> line
> or cable modem connection metal wire to another ground possible source to
> the
> protected device.  Without thinking carefully how it is absolutely
> protected to
> keep the pulse out of the building and shunted to ground properly.
>
> There does happen to be a form of surge protector that does not have this
> horrible pulse clamp effect.  But it is quite rare.  It uses an inductor
> choke
> and capacitor to clamp the pulse to the HOUSE side of the power line
> service and
> like the transformer style device, blocks the pulse from crawling on the
> surface
> of the wire into your equipment.  It sure isn't sold in Walmart, Lowes, HEB
> or
> any place like that folks.
>
> Final notes here.  If you are using huge antenna farm stuff like I do as a
> serious ham radio operator with towers all over the place at my site, you
> also
> may be required to put a substantial metal wire circular ring around the
> house
> which bonds the various sink ground spoke sites at several places going
> into the
> building!  And, in fact, my site gets a direct hit on the average of at
> least
> twice a year big time.  My towers are all grounded and radial spanned at
> the
> bottoms for protection purposes.  As well the feed lines are all brought in
> either at underground level, properly protected by plasma arc protectors
> there
> at tower connections.  Or in the proper ground plate side panel entry
> points
> that do properly connect to the ground.  I have had this careful protection
> since about 1980 at the site.  And direct hit after direct hit, I have
> NEVER
> since ever had a computer failure or radio or any failure, other than a
> couple
> modem failures ever since properly protecting it.
>
> But I do use all proper pig iron UPS stuff there.  Which in my case has
> been for
> years the APC full professional sine wave output Smart UPS units.  As well
> all
> the computer equipment on the site is also actually still pig iron linear
> power
> supply relay rack stuff.  I use *NO* switching power supply stuff at all in
> any
> rural heavy tower radio site locations, like we also never do at broadcast
> stations.  Which get hit a heck of a lot more with their 250-500 foot high
> towers that are a lot higher than mine, chuckle.  And at WTAW's 1150KHz AM
> frequency is a 256 foot quarter wave high tower.  Which we took about 60
> hits a
> year while I was Chief Engineer there paying my way through A&M.  And never
> once
> lost anything from an antenna strike.
>
> Sorry for all the words.  I am just trying to help here..
>
> > Do you have any quick methods of how-to size up what power-level of UPS
> to
> > buy? I know I can go to google.com and find the info but if you have
> some
> > quick method off the top of your head it will save me the time of reading
> and
> > figuring out for myself what I need. Not to mention the fact that also I
> > trust your judgment more so than what I might find on the 'net.
>
> You have to totalize the wattage level use of the electronic equipment you
> wish
> to protect.  Then you figure out how long the batteries of the UPS will
> crank
> out that much wattage to keep things going.  Either so you can shut it down
> if
> you are hit, or it will go on until the real chances are that decent power
> will
> be restored.  At my ham radio site, when I am not there, the APC UPS with
> the
> battery power level available to it, will keep the simple computer, phone
> line
> access and low level VHF data service going for about 24 hours.  I've only
> once
> since the 1980's ever not been able to get out there in more than 24 hours
> to
> shut things down and police the things if I'm not there on site when bad
> things
> happen to the power at this very rural location.
>
> Not the same Mike.
>
> > Thanks Mike, seriously! You've knocked some digital sense into this old
> > brain-pan of mine, and for that I am grateful. I'd be sick if I lost even
> > half of my gear!
> >
> > Greg
>
> But with the best of my professional heart at work here to help not only
> you but
> the otheres who might benefit from this.
>
>
>
> --> Sleep well; OS2's still awake! ;)
>
> Mike Luther
> Mike.Luther@ziplog.com
> Mike.Luther@f3001.n117.z1.fidonet.org
>
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Thank you Mike Luther for such a fascinating explanation of the issue of li=
ghtening and what I need to consider and do to protect my gear!<br>This who=
le OT issue now takes priority-one with me, as I no longer want to risk los=
ing valuable gear for any time period as it takes me to figure out what I n=
eed, and jump into the Grand-Am and hit whatever store sells what I need!<b=
r>
<br>Again, thank you.=A0 And FTR it wasn&#39;t too wordy at all.=A0 If I co=
uld understand what you described (and I&#39;m far from being the sharpest =
knife in the drawer) then you did an excellent job of writing this up.=A0 I=
t&#39;s a definite keeper and will soon be a PDF file to save, printout, an=
d refer to when needed, or if someone asks *me* about the subject of lighte=
ning strikes.<br>
<br>Greg<br><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 11:57 PM=
, Mike Luther <span dir=3D"ltr">&lt;<a href=3D"mailto:os2-wireless_users@2r=
osenthals.com">os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>=
<blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; borde=
r-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
** Reply to note from &quot;OS/2 Wireless Users Mailing List&quot;<br>
&lt;<a href=3D"mailto:os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com">os2-wireless_user=
s@2rosenthals.com</a>&gt; Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:48:16 -0400<br>
<br>
Serious professional advice from a NARTE certified Master Telecommunication=
s<br>
Engineer since 1985 here about lightning.<br>
<div class=3D"im"><br>
&gt; Wow! That&#39;s all I can think to say about such a massive lightening=
 strike and<br>
&gt; the negative results. No, that&#39;s not true. I think you just convin=
ced me to<br>
&gt; do two things:<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; 1] Buy a UPS regardless of the physical size of the unit and find room=
 for it<br>
&gt; no matter what! 2] Get myself some renter&#39;s insurance, regardless =
of the<br>
&gt; monthly or yearly premium!<br>
<br>
</div>Smart decision. =A0But the folks here need to know some real radio fa=
cts about<br>
lightning to make a proper decision on protection. =A0As a commercial broad=
cast<br>
engineer since even the late 1950&#39;s and even Chief Engineer for the Tex=
as Aggie<br>
WTAW radio station back then paying my way through A&amp;M, I offer some se=
rious<br>
information.<br>
<br>
Lightning is *NOT* electricity as most people think about that. =A0It is, f=
or<br>
fact, a very intense radio wave issue! =A0As such, it does *NOT* travel thr=
ough a<br>
wire or metal object! =A0It actually travels on the SURFACE of it. =A0Furth=
er, since<br>
it is a radio wave and it oscillates, it also focuses on some frequency dur=
ing<br>
the actual strike, which CHANGES as the strike takes place in those thousan=
dths<br>
of a second! =A0Frequency means that, as to the stroke going through the<br=
>
atmosphere or down the surface of a tree, wire; whatever, it has a waveleng=
th<br>
just like a broadcast station transmitter output or TV station. =A0Radio wa=
ves are<br>
curious, in that for each QUARTER wavelength we see a MAXIMUM current for<b=
r>
MINIMUM voltage, then a reversal to a MAXIMUM voltage for a MINIMUM current=
 a<br>
quarter wave down the path from there.<br>
<br>
The air gap voltage required in the atmosphere for an arc to proceed throug=
h it<br>
is perhaps 35,000 or so volts per inch. =A0Think about that. =A0How many mi=
llion<br>
volts per bolt? =A0Yes, the air is burned into a conduction path, the SURFA=
CE of<br>
which is conducting the lightning. =A0But wait! =A0Remember, a million volt=
s at one<br>
end of the quarter wave point and maybe a thousand amperes current? =A0Then=
 a<br>
quarter wave later a million amperes and then a thousand volts? =A0Interest=
ing.<br>
<br>
The absolute &#39;intent&#39; of a lightning bolt which travels between a c=
loud and<br>
ground, because it MUST travel on the SURFACE of the conductor, is to actua=
lly<br>
spread itself out across the SURFACE of the earth at that end of the path. =
=A0Well<br>
fine, if as part of the strike conduction path, the surface travel down to =
the<br>
earth terminates in such a way that on the SURFACE of whatever conductor, t=
hat<br>
surface is actually touching and bonded to the surface of the earth. =A0But=
 in the<br>
case of the horrid hit described earlier here, if the metal surface of the<=
br>
conductor carries it down into a hollow shaft below the surface of the eart=
h,<br>
and thence down the surface of the metal wires to other houses, apartments;=
<br>
whatever, the only path toward the surface of the earth will be as describe=
d.<br>
Through MASSIVE damage sites inside the building(s)!<br>
<br>
As well, because the strike is a huge magnetic pulse issue, a strike also<b=
r>
radiates that same Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) out away from it. =A0Thus e=
ven<br>
though the strike hits your neighbor&#39;s house, the pulse lights up EVERY=
 wire in<br>
it&#39;s path, at the speed of light, as the energy radiates away from the =
hit as<br>
well. =A0Interesting.<br>
<br>
OK, how do we REALLY protect against lightning? =A0 Answers.<br>
<br>
That NEMA ground rod at your power meter entrance to the building is there<=
br>
generically for this reason as well as bonding the power line ground wire t=
o<br>
ground from your electric service. =A0But the real problem is that this NEM=
A<br>
ground rod is driven INTO the ground! =A0Which does *NOT* do much good for =
the<br>
radio wave lighting strike which is traveling trying to reach the SURFACE o=
f the<br>
earth. =A0If you really want to use this to protect your home, apartment or=
<br>
whatever, the proper way to do this is to fan out a little wire radial grou=
p in<br>
a circle around that NEMA ground rod, about six or eight feet long for each=
<br>
wire. =A0Like the spokes on a wagon wheel. =A0Which go down only a small in=
ch or so<br>
at GROUND level from the NEMA rod. =A0What that does is to properly shift t=
he<br>
lightning bolt to the SURFACE of the ground as it roars down the ground wir=
e to<br>
that NEMA ground rod. =A0You do the same thing for the bottoms of TV antenn=
a<br>
poles, metal flag poles, the wire that carries lighting arrester spikes at =
the<br>
top of the buidling to the ground.<br>
<br>
Further, you NEVER pass antenna wires directly into the attic or through th=
e<br>
window into the place =A0- unless - you have a proper lightning arrestor pl=
asma<br>
device which lets the shock arc through it from the SURFACE of the wire tha=
t<br>
goes into the building to a good heavy flat sheet copper strip with a wide<=
br>
surface to the ground. =A0And then out along the surface like the NEMA rod =
deal.<br>
A round wire has little surface, right? =A0The proper lightning ground is t=
he flat<br>
surface of a copper strip, even though it is rather thin.<br>
<br>
Plus the proper place to put the lightning protection on the power, phone l=
ines,<br>
TV cable system and so on is at this common place near your power meter and=
 so<br>
on. =A0That to divert the bolt AWAY from the bulding. =A0You really want it=
 all to<br>
be protected together from a common decent protection set of devices. =A0Ev=
en to a<br>
for real master protection set of devices on your meter, and NOT these deal=
s you<br>
buy to &#39;protect&#39; your stuff in the house. =A0Yes, the do OK for noi=
se. =A0But not<br>
for lightning. =A0About the only thing they are good for is the insurance y=
ou may<br>
get with them too. =A0Scowl.<br>
<br>
Now we go inside. =A0But before we do please note. =A0OK, so the average qu=
arter<br>
wavelength of the huge bolt is at 1 Megahertz, 1000 Khz on your AM radio di=
al.<br>
But the bolt also can and does have an average quarter wavelength of only s=
ay<br>
EIGHT feet as well with frequencies way up in the TV channel area at points=
 in<br>
it&#39;s split second of lifespan. =A0Ouch. =A0Which are still traveling ov=
er the<br>
OUTSIDE of all the wires going through your building if you let it in too.<=
br>
<br>
AHA! =A0Now you know why in many strikes that penetrate a building, you&#39=
;ll see<br>
your TV blown to bits on one part of the same power circuit that doesn&#39;=
t fry<br>
your guitar amp eight feet away. =A0Hmmmmmm. =A0 More important, there is a=
 HUGE<br>
issue here very few people know and understand about so-called surge protec=
tor<br>
plug boxes you get to &#39;protect&#39; your computer; guitar amp -- and so=
 on. =A0These<br>
protector devices, at least virtually all of them, work by letting a pulse =
of<br>
over a couple hundred volts arc across a path to the GROUND neutral, the bi=
g<br>
round rod on a three prong power plug. =A0Well so what? =A0Remember that be=
cause<br>
lightning is a radio wave, just because it shunts the surge to that green w=
ire<br>
ground connection, where is that, in terms of quarter wave spacing, for the=
 hot<br>
spots on the lighting bolt as that happens?<br>
<br>
Surprise! =A0Ground, in this case, may not even be back toward the electric=
 panel<br>
and the NEMA rod. =A0Instead, it may be actually going down the SURFACE of =
that<br>
same green wire INTO your computer, your guitar amplifier, your TV set! =A0=
Now<br>
watch what else ABSOLUTELY happens to virtually all modern electronic gear.=
<br>
Years ago we gave up metal transformer power supplies for such things. =A0A=
ll of<br>
the conversion from 120 volts or 240 volt of AC (Alternating Current) down =
the<br>
power lines to the DC (Direct Current) for the equipment, is done through w=
hat<br>
is now switching power supplies. =A0But that is a DISASTER for a voltage sp=
ike<br>
which comes IN on the green ground wire, seeking out the phone line ground,=
<br>
perhaps, or .. worse .. your PRINTER! =A0Because your laser printer draws a=
 high<br>
power amount you can&#39;t pay for UPS coverage. =A0So you plug it in to th=
e power<br>
plug and then connect it with a metal ground wire to your computer which is=
 on<br>
your UPS. =A0Get the idea?<br>
<br>
What happens is that the lightning strike, even only a hundred volts maybe =
by<br>
the time it gets here, raises the GROUND foils of your computer above the G=
ROUND<br>
level for a SURFACE radio wave for the difference of 120 volts AC to 12 vol=
ts DC<br>
and... =A0Surprise! =A0If it is a 300 volt pulse, your ground foils are 30 =
volts<br>
above ground and POOF your whole computer, guitar amp, TV set, stereo is bl=
own<br>
to bits. =A0It is not at all unusual for even a strike on your neighbor&#39=
;s place to<br>
surge your power lines up to 600 volts or so. =A0Not at all.<br>
<br>
Bottom line. =A0The ONLY way to use a UPS to protect anything is to make SU=
RE that<br>
your UPS uses a METAL TRANSFORMER to isolate the house from whatever you ar=
e<br>
trying to protect. =A0Why? =A0 Because the lightning bolt cannot pass throu=
gh the<br>
metal pig iron between the primary coil and the secondary coil wires in it.=
<br>
Thus that really DOES ISOLATE your equipment from the pulse. =A0But ONLY if=
 you<br>
protect ALL of the devices on the output side. =A0And do *NOT* run your pri=
nter<br>
elsewhere and then connect it to your computer. =A0Or use any kind of phone=
 line<br>
or cable modem connection metal wire to another ground possible source to t=
he<br>
protected device. =A0Without thinking carefully how it is absolutely protec=
ted to<br>
keep the pulse out of the building and shunted to ground properly.<br>
<br>
There does happen to be a form of surge protector that does not have this<b=
r>
horrible pulse clamp effect. =A0But it is quite rare. =A0It uses an inducto=
r choke<br>
and capacitor to clamp the pulse to the HOUSE side of the power line servic=
e and<br>
like the transformer style device, blocks the pulse from crawling on the su=
rface<br>
of the wire into your equipment. =A0It sure isn&#39;t sold in Walmart, Lowe=
s, HEB or<br>
any place like that folks.<br>
<br>
Final notes here. =A0If you are using huge antenna farm stuff like I do as =
a<br>
serious ham radio operator with towers all over the place at my site, you a=
lso<br>
may be required to put a substantial metal wire circular ring around the ho=
use<br>
which bonds the various sink ground spoke sites at several places going int=
o the<br>
building! =A0And, in fact, my site gets a direct hit on the average of at l=
east<br>
twice a year big time. =A0My towers are all grounded and radial spanned at =
the<br>
bottoms for protection purposes. =A0As well the feed lines are all brought =
in<br>
either at underground level, properly protected by plasma arc protectors th=
ere<br>
at tower connections. =A0Or in the proper ground plate side panel entry poi=
nts<br>
that do properly connect to the ground. =A0I have had this careful protecti=
on<br>
since about 1980 at the site. =A0And direct hit after direct hit, I have NE=
VER<br>
since ever had a computer failure or radio or any failure, other than a cou=
ple<br>
modem failures ever since properly protecting it.<br>
<br>
But I do use all proper pig iron UPS stuff there. =A0Which in my case has b=
een for<br>
years the APC full professional sine wave output Smart UPS units. =A0As wel=
l all<br>
the computer equipment on the site is also actually still pig iron linear p=
ower<br>
supply relay rack stuff. =A0I use *NO* switching power supply stuff at all =
in any<br>
rural heavy tower radio site locations, like we also never do at broadcast<=
br>
stations. =A0Which get hit a heck of a lot more with their 250-500 foot hig=
h<br>
towers that are a lot higher than mine, chuckle. =A0And at WTAW&#39;s 1150K=
Hz AM<br>
frequency is a 256 foot quarter wave high tower. =A0Which we took about 60 =
hits a<br>
year while I was Chief Engineer there paying my way through A&amp;M. =A0And=
 never once<br>
lost anything from an antenna strike.<br>
<br>
Sorry for all the words. =A0I am just trying to help here..<br>
<div class=3D"im"><br>
&gt; Do you have any quick methods of how-to size up what power-level of UP=
S to<br>
&gt; buy? I know I can go to <a href=3D"http://google.com" target=3D"_blank=
">google.com</a> and find the info but if you have some<br>
&gt; quick method off the top of your head it will save me the time of read=
ing and<br>
&gt; figuring out for myself what I need. Not to mention the fact that also=
 I<br>
&gt; trust your judgment more so than what I might find on the &#39;net.<br=
>
<br>
</div>You have to totalize the wattage level use of the electronic equipmen=
t you wish<br>
to protect. =A0Then you figure out how long the batteries of the UPS will c=
rank<br>
out that much wattage to keep things going. =A0Either so you can shut it do=
wn if<br>
you are hit, or it will go on until the real chances are that decent power =
will<br>
be restored. =A0At my ham radio site, when I am not there, the APC UPS with=
 the<br>
battery power level available to it, will keep the simple computer, phone l=
ine<br>
access and low level VHF data service going for about 24 hours. =A0I&#39;ve=
 only once<br>
since the 1980&#39;s ever not been able to get out there in more than 24 ho=
urs to<br>
shut things down and police the things if I&#39;m not there on site when ba=
d things<br>
happen to the power at this very rural location.<br>
<br>
Not the same Mike.<br>
<div class=3D"im"><br>
&gt; Thanks Mike, seriously! You&#39;ve knocked some digital sense into thi=
s old<br>
&gt; brain-pan of mine, and for that I am grateful. I&#39;d be sick if I lo=
st even<br>
&gt; half of my gear!<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; Greg<br>
<br>
</div>But with the best of my professional heart at work here to help not o=
nly you but<br>
the otheres who might benefit from this.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
--&gt; Sleep well; OS2&#39;s still awake! ;)<br>
<br>
Mike Luther<br>
<a href=3D"mailto:Mike.Luther@ziplog.com">Mike.Luther@ziplog.com</a><br>
<a href=3D"mailto:Mike.Luther@f3001.n117.z1.fidonet.org">Mike.Luther@f3001.=
n117.z1.fidonet.org</a><br>
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