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Author Topic: Electrostatic discharge protection tips?  (Read 9588 times)

Offline Zoidberg

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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?
That li'l ol' DXer from Texas
Unpleasant Frequencies Crew
Al: Palstar R30C & various antennae
Snoopy: Sony ICF-2010
Roger: Magnavox D2935
(Off-air recordings.)

Offline SW-J

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Re: Electrostatic discharge protection tips?
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2009, 0242 UTC »
A couple of 1/4 watt carbon film resistors anything over 1K to ground should work to 'bleed off' any charge that may develop ... tribolectic effects (sand, air rubbing, impacting your wire antenna) and even charge induction (from overhead storms) can be reduced by providing even this simple kind of resistive 'loading'.

If there is already a DC path to ground then the resistors wouldn't be necessary; I lost the front-end transistor in a piece of gear long ago where I failed to have any sort of bleed path from an over head dipole fed with twin-lead. One day, I even drews small arcs to a water pipe from this the lead in as a charged storm cloud was in the vicinity! THATS what the resistors would before on an otherwise insulated and non-DC grounded antenna.

o Icom IC-756ProII, ProIII, Alinco DX-70, Kenwood TS-680s
o WinRadio G303e, Degen/Kaito 1103/DE1103, Stoddart NM-25
o 1/2 wave 80m Dipole used with several tuners
o Tuned loops from 2' thru 16' diam. capable of 160m thru 10m

Offline .

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Re: Electrostatic discharge protection tips?
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2010, 1735 UTC »
I use an Alpha Delta Transi-Trap. Very well made.. so far so good..

http://www.alphadeltacom.com/tt3g50.html

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4678


Offline syfr

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Re: Electrostatic discharge protection tips?
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2010, 2325 UTC »
100K resistor from antenna to ground. Works great, no degredation in signal, Twenty cents....
Kiwsdr x 2. TenTec Paragon/NRD535

Offline W7LPN

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Re: Electrostatic discharge protection tips?
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2010, 2055 UTC »
http://www.w8ji.com/lightning.htm     ;D  check this out....good reading.