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Equipment / Electrostatic discharge protection tips?
« on: June 06, 2008, 0642 UTC »
Hot dry winds this week have been kicking up some fierce static. I'm wondering whether to be concerned about static damage. My Palstar R30C has what appears to be a neon ESD bulb inline with the antenna input, but I don't want to take chances.
Right now my antenna is 25' or so of magnet wire up a tree fed via a bit of TV coax. I tested a spare TV balun, the cannister type shaped like a small tube, the usual socket on the 50 Ohm end, a pair of leads with spade lugs on the Hi-Z end. A quick check with the meter shows no electrical continuity across the ends. I put it between the coax and magnet wire. I'm not using this as an impedance transformer for shortwave purposes since the core probably isn't the correct type, but does it seem logical that the lack of electrical continuity between the magnet wire antenna and TV coax feedline would help protect against ESD?
Right now my antenna is 25' or so of magnet wire up a tree fed via a bit of TV coax. I tested a spare TV balun, the cannister type shaped like a small tube, the usual socket on the 50 Ohm end, a pair of leads with spade lugs on the Hi-Z end. A quick check with the meter shows no electrical continuity across the ends. I put it between the coax and magnet wire. I'm not using this as an impedance transformer for shortwave purposes since the core probably isn't the correct type, but does it seem logical that the lack of electrical continuity between the magnet wire antenna and TV coax feedline would help protect against ESD?