Video

Thanks for writing. The 80kA was the one that was available, and that's the simple reason I used it. As far as the choice of breaker rating, the old instructions referred to using a 15A minimum breaker. But later the instruction were changed to reflect the use of a 20A breaker. As I mentioned in the video, I had no 20 amp, double pole breakers near where I mounted the surge suppressor, yet had plenty of open slots in the panel. So I bought a new breaker and installed it close to the mounting location of the suppressor. Let me stress that regardless of what anyone tells you, it is not necessary to place the suppressor close to where the service enters the panel. You can place it anywhere in the panel. A surge propagates down the rails at perhaps 80% the speed of light. Placing it the top or at the very bottom has no bearing on it functioning correctly. What matters is the to keep the leads from the suppressor as short and direct as possible.

@thomashybiske5399 Thank you for clearing that up. Would be a higher job to move breakers around. Just going to grab the one Square D makes that plugs right into the panel. Thank you again for clearing that up.

No, it's mounted to the side of the main (and in my case, only) breaker panel.

No, bro wants to keep his hearing...😒

​@@thomashybiske5399i respect that lol

I lived in Massachusetts for 20 years, and found that a good lithium grease (as shown in the video) worked very well, and never stiffened.

@@thomashybiske5399 Good to know I live in Connecticut what the name and where you buy ?

@@nd1m541 I used a tube of Lucas Oil 10533 White Lithium Grease. I got it at my local Home Depot, but it's available from other places.

@@thomashybiske5399 Thanks I will do the same.

Ray, the radiator, i.e. the flagpole, is not DC grounded, but is isolated from the grounded aluminum mount by a large oil impregnated insulator. When NOT in use, I short the radiator to ground by way of a solid, #4AWG wire which indeed renders the spark gap redundant. However, when the flagpole is in use and the shorting wire is disconnected, the flagpole is isolated from ground and is connected to the autocoupler. The Icom autocoupler has minimal high voltage protection on the antenna side, so the spark gap is another line of defense against atmospheric static build up on the flagpole from wind, snow, thunderstoms, etc, and possible damage to the autocoupler, while it is in use. I lost another Icom AH-4 years prior when an induced high voltage on the long control lines and actually blew the surface mount components of the controller circuitry off the internal PCB.

I have not noticed any loosening of the nuts which bolt the sections together. At the time, my kit was supplied with nylok locknuts, and they seem to do the trick.

The reason it is mounted where it is was that on this particular panel there were no knockouts above the one I used. If you watch just beyond the introduction, there is a pretty good shot of the inside panel side where it shows no further knockouts.

@@thomashybiske5399 Thanks for the prompt response. I see, but perhaps use a drill step bit or a knockout punch. I installed a transfer switch for a generator and those boxes do not have any, so I used a step drill bit for a Type 1 SPD I installed in it (I have at the distribution panel but anything from outside would fry the circuits in the transfer box before hitting it so I added a Type 1 to tackle it before it harms my transfer switch. And, my punch set for the conduits of course but you can get a small punch kit for less than $25 at Harbor Freight and it is super cool to use and the holes are pristine clean and perfect. Perhaps because I am OCD and retired, so I have time to play, but it would drive me crazy, LOL

This has been heavily debated and more studies are showing it is irrelevant where you place it as long as it is there. Same as putting your higher amp breakers near the main it doesn't matter anymore.

@@LJFirearms Yet, current and voltage do not behave the same. It is important not to have tight bends and is even more important to twist them because it matters to voltage. A breaker controls current and if amps go above the limit it just shuts it down. The purpose is different also. A voltage tsunami is another story, it branches out everywhere and amp breakers do not stop it You can have thousands of volts and itty bitty amps like in tasers, if they would trip then the suppresor is useless because it stops it from reaching it. Not heavily debated, not at all. Higher amps breakers locations are not relevant anymore because the buss bars are fat and can take a lot of juice without creating resistance, that is another story and it only works because the standards were raised so manufacturers account for beefier conductors and precisely in case loads are constant and high..

Me too! I scared the ish out of my son 😭

Yes, it kind of does. I am NOT an expert on this, but the Falcon 9 pitches over shortly after launch so it can reach orbital velocity to counteract the effect of gravity trying to pull it back to earth. This would not be possible if it launched straight up. The pitch over is gradual so to minimize the forces on the craft. So while it LOOKS like it's flying "sideways", it's gradually increasing in altitude and velocity until it reaches about 340 miles high and traveling at 17,500 mph to establish a fine balance between escaping Earth's gravity and flying off into space, and being pulled back into the atmosphere. Also consider that while it looks like it's flying horizontal or sideways, the curvature of the earth is essentially falling away from the rocket.

it’s supposed to go into low earth orbit not to other planets 🤣

Has to reach orbital velocities around 17,000mph, common misconception- almost all of the motion is actually “sideways” and not up. Up is easy, but if you’re not orbiting, gravity will always pull you back down.

It's already in space. Just need to be placed in the low earth orbit, it needs to travel around the earth fast to escape gravity and continue to follow it's orbit around the earth.

Wonderful

I respectfully disagree. You want the entire ground network to bounce evenly. When one segment of ground bounces higher than another, current flows. In my installation, EVERYTHING is tied to a single point ground. That is the utility ground rod at the service entrance. K3GM

@@thomashybiske5399- well done. That’s what NEC and best practices require.

See how I tied the two videos together?

The flagpole is simply 30' of aluminum tubing over a large radial field. I imagine the VSWR on 80m is significant without the insertion of a tuner. Placing the tuner (coupler) out by the antenna reduces transmission line losses when compared to a tuner located near the transmitter. There are no loops in either the 1/2" Heliax transmission line or the 4 conductor control line. Since the video, I have constructed an 18" high circular wall around the flagpole. I chose the flagpole due to the visibility of my corner property rather than any HOA requirements. I have a 3 element SteppIR yagi and SteppIR BigIR presently sitting in my garage that I used at my former rural home before I moved. This is a compromise, but it is what it is. I have been pulled into weak signal VHF/UHF now too, so I have a pretty full slate here. Thanks for writing.

Up on Rt. 9. Beautiful!

Yeah what place though?

No. Different place. This is mowersdirect.com

The original plan was to go all the way to the bottom with the 12" diameter cardboard form. I was concerned about having an intimate contact between the surrounding soil and concrete but figured this would be the only way to do it. However, I realized that in digging the hole, I dug out just enough soil to make the form a press fit. This allowed me to dig out the bottom a bit more to form a bell shape to it. I used a mallet and a block of wood to tap the form into the hole after most of the concrete was shoveled into it being careful not to damage the edge of the form. Press fit is the key. In my case, it was sheer luck that I had dug out the exact amount to press it into, but not enough that it would fall into the hole.

Me too!

Negative. Please see NEC 250.24 ( I believe A1 thru A5). This is the ONLY place they can be tied together.

You can, but you're only using half the device. The other black wire would remain unconnected. Also, the breaker that you use should ideally be rated at 20 amps minimum.

It would only protect half of your circuits.