[bars] Ground tester?

[Tom Walsh]

Willie,

I can't advise you on the test equipment but reading your message it is not clear to me how the lightning damaged the equipment or
even entered the premise.  Was it via the electrical service, internet service, or radio antennas?

You mention internet connectivity parts being damaged.  Was the VHF Radio damaged too. What kind of antennas are used?

Perhaps the first consideration is whether the electric service has a surge protector  installed at the entry point?  That is
something I recommend strongly.  That should help protect the internet and home entertainment gear (and radios too).

Tom



-----Original Message-----
From: bars <bars-bounces at w1hh.org> On Behalf Of William Smith
Sent: Friday, November 4, 2022 7:16 AM
To: BARS Reflector <bars at w1hh.org>
Cc: William Smith <wpns at geekho.com>
Subject: [bars] Ground tester?

One of my neighbors in the Turks & Caicos appears to have taken a lightning strike which blew up a few thousand dollars worth of
internet connectivity parts.

I'm in discussions with his electrician about what kinds of ground are appropriate for his VHF radio and Ethernet lightning
arresters (big wires, short runs, no bends, loops, or coils, directly to the nearest ground), and I'm not sure he's even interested
in making sense of the wiring mess that's extant, but I thought it might be instructive to use a ground tester (Earth Resistance
Tester, Megger, etc) to see if the various grounds are even connected, much less good RF grounds.

Has anyone used something like https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Ground-Resistance-Meters/zgbs/industrial/5011685011 to test
grounds, are they useful, and can they tell a good RF ground (as above) from a coil of wire that's electrically connected to ground?
They seem to range in price from a few hundred to a few thousand, so I've sent out feelers about renting or borrowing one.

If this is the wrrong tool for measuring RF Ground Impedance, what is the right tool (or procedure) for doing so?

Thanks!

73, Willie N1JBJ


_______________________________________________
bars mailing list
bars at w1hh.org
http://mail.w1hh.org/mailman/listinfo/bars_w1hh.org