Paradanradio Antenna Disconnect
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- čas přidán 16. 02. 2023
- Paradanradio Antenna Disconnect
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Great product and I hope they work out a VHF / UHF version too.
Donut was distracting 😁
A very useful product. A life saver for an expensive radio. I'll go and check it out now. :)
Nice i just finished editing mine. Great job Jason.
Looks like a practical and very good product from the protection from lightning. If I were building them, I would also include LED indicators for both input and output to show that Antennas are linked with the input. Also an LED to indicate power to the relay or relays for the operation. This could all be adapted and including in the initial cost. Actually, if these items were cheaper, more people would buy them and you would actually make more in the long run. At this cost, very few people would actually invest to add them, to their radio shack. Think about it, offer them for a lesser, more consumable friendly price and it will sell big-time. Billy / Albq. N.M. 2 / 22 / 2023
This is on my list as a must have in the next month. Good video
Great device 👍🏼 hey Jason thanks for being there in Orlando l. I had the chance to take a pic with you, smoking ape, and the guy from "temporary offline". Thanks again.
Good interview interesting device should come in handy for many hams
Great product!
Awesome! I made a very similar device using a DPDT relay. This looks much cleaner though lol
Good information.
I unplug my hf rigs antenna connection and power completely when its not in use. And ground the antenna connector before plugging it back in.
I do however leave my vhf transceiver connected up. Thats a short vertical compared to the hf dipole and vertical I have.
What is the relays isolation rating?
I have a 18 in M to F uHF pigtail on all my rigs. Why?
1. For my rigs which I sometimes use in the field, it makes it easier to remove the rig. And some rigs, like the FT 2980, the antenna port is a pain to get to.
2. It is easier to replace the pig tail than the ant. port on the rig. I have to unplug a lot in H-Town for lighting.
3. M-F reduces a point of failure by not having to worry about a barrel connection.
4. These M-F cables can be custom built, either at home or by places like ABR in Houston.
This would be very helpful if you are away on vacation and your home area suffers a powerful lightning storm.
Does it address Electromagnetic Pulse issues?
I wouldn't think so but don't know for certain. You will need to contact Dan.
Need design for VHF/UHF
Do you guarantee that equipment will not be damaged due to lightening?
The author can correct me if I am wrong, but no one will give that guarantee, there is nothing out there that will guarantee no damage from a direct lightning strike, period. Even if you have the antenna disconnected a direct strike will find a way to get into your home and your electrical system, and at that point it is an insurance claim. This device is great at shunting the static from a nearby strike or random static to your grounding system and help your equipment survive that event. Looks like a great product and it is on my list to buy. For Dan, like many others we need something for 2M, 70cm.
I actually read a complaint from an end user that he thought this device detected lightning and disconnected itself, come on people!!!
Interesting in theory, but unless your constantly monitoring SWR, it seems like an accident waiting to happen, as if it fails, you wouldn't know until you've fried the finals of the radio. Also, if your using an Alpha Delta switch, simply switching it to the "com" position grounds out the antennas.
Grounding your center conductor turns your antenna into a lightning rod. 🌩...assuming you are using a vertical or a dipole. Loop antennas and j-poles, end fed, and slim jims already are shorted to ground.
So he never finished explaining the use above six meters. Is it modifiable? Does he have a different design?
As far as I know, he doesn't offer a 2M/440 version at this time.
When I talked one of his employees about this he said I could expect an SWR around 1.8 :1on 2M and something higher on 70cm. I don't know if it can be tuned out with an external tuner or not. The internal tuner on my 991A does not tune 2M or 70cm.
It is very surprising how widespread the misunderstandings are about lightening, even amongst hams. Shorting your radiator to ground does what exactly? Is there any ham alive that knows how a lightning rod works and why they are placed all over power substations and on power line poles?
Water seeks lowest level
Lighting seeks earth ground.
@@DominicMazoch - Many in the electrical engineering world say that lightning travels from the earth to the sky.
Please enlighten me. I really don't know what you mean.
@Black Arrow - You know that Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod. Most people mistakenly think that lightning rods are designed to take a direct lighting strike. Lighting rods dissipate static charge to prevent lighting from striking in the first place. Imagine the sky and the ground as an enormous capacator. As the charge builds, as in the case of a thunderstorm, a voltage is reached where the air is ionized and becomes conductive, e.g., a lightning bolt. If you connect a piece of wire to ground and raise the other end high into the sky, the distance between the cloud layer (+) and ground (-) is less so the voltage required to make an arc is less. Obviously, if you could connect the clouds to the ground, no voltage could ever build up. The point to notice is current in a lightning bolt travels from the ground to the sky. So, the idea is to dissipate voltage so it can never build up a voltage that would create a dangerous arc. Because of its pointy shape, a lightning rod can not hold a charge. As electrons build up on it from electrostatic force, electrons are pushed off the tip in a gradual controlled way so that a voltage between the object the lightning rod is attached to and the sky can not form to create a dangerous lightning discharge. If you look at the way a gas discharge tube works, it allows for the build up of voltage to jump a tiny gap, and it will snap, snap, snap just like a spark plug until the static electricity is dissipated.
The thing that scares people about the possibility of lightning damaging their radio is the faulty belief that an over current will somehow get into your radio. But let's think. The current is trying to get from ground to the clouds. The case of your radio is ground along with the outer conductor of your coax. The current is being pulled up through your antenna, which is acting like a lightning rod, i.e., dissipating the charge and preventing static buildup. Every time static electricity starts to rise on your antenna, a little discharge arc will form between the center conductor and the shell. This arcing will prevent static voltage from getting so large so as to form a bolt of lightning, which, if allowed to form, would destroy your entire house, not just your radio.
The object being marketed in this video does not add any protection at all. It just keeps you from hearing the tic, tic, tic sound of static electricity discharging through your antenna. Another misnomer is calling a gas discharge tube a "lightning arrestor." As if a little tiny gas discharge tube could stop a lightning bolt
It bothers me that people who sell these "amazing devices" are in reality exploiting other people's fears and misunderstandings and providing no protection whatsoever. Instead of buying this worthless device, just install a gas discharge tube in your antenna system. They work 24/365, require no power to operate, and cost as little as one dollar. I've had my 2m/70cm radios connected to my roof antennas and my hf radio to a GAP vertical for many years without any lightning protection and without any issues. The ticking noise the discharge makes is definitely unsettling.
Benjamin Franklin put lightning rods on people's homes to protect them, not to attract lightning to them. It is the same reason power companies put them on power poles and on their substations. They are not even large. They're usually 6" to a foot long.
Take an Alpha Delta lightning arrestor ($89.99), for instance: It doesn't even use a gas discharge tube. The brass knob merely controls the gap spacing and the device controls "where" the arc occurs because you don't want the arc to occur through the dielectric of your coax because it could change its impedance over time. A "lightning arrestor" is so unbelievably simple mechanically I think $90 is an outrageous price for an Alpha Delta. The creative ham can make an effective lightning arrestor out of a used spark plug. No need to buy a magical box.
But, but, there is money to be made ... All this shows is that people rather fall for snake oil than do their own research in how it works. But then, maybe people will need to learn the hard way that one can't cheat physics.
Its not a bad idea for some small stuff but its still connected to the radio through the power supply but either way it still wont do shit against a close or direct hit
For the same price I can get a more trusted and proven polyphaser and a antenna switch.
Why is there so much fear of lightning? I've had my 2m/70cm radios connected to a vertical co-linear array (Cushcraft) continuously for over 30 years with no lightning protection and no issues. Am I just lucky, or is the danger of lightning overblown?
Depends where you live. I'm on the west coast and we have very few lightning storms locally. Grew up back east and the storms would light up the sky and rattle the window panes.
Okay how about we just remember to disconnect the antenna and unplug the radios if you're in a lightning prone area if you are not actively using them in during a lightning storm
I used to do that... until, in the middle of a storm, I tried to disconnect my coax from the radio. It felt like grabbing a hot sparkplug wire on a Briggs and Stratton. If you ground your radiator (the center conductor), aren't you effectively creating a lightning rod? Is that desirable if the common understanding is that lightning rods attract lightning?
Perfect! Except for the fact that the vast majority of hams simply don't do that, ever.
Must be nice for most of them guys to be able to afford to risk expensive radio equipment I'm on a tight budget believe me when I'm not using it it's unplugged disconnected from the radio and literally sitting on the other side of a room from where the antenna cables come into my shack
@Dusty Livas - I think the important thing to glean from the comments is that there are far better and cheaper and more reliable products available than the one depicted in this video. For example, you can use a spark gap or a gas discharge tube. Both can cost around a dollar. They are simple, reliable, and require no external power. Many people are inclined to buy peace of mind even though the product provides no added safety over the other methods that I described.
@@dustylivas278your post makes it sound like you are disconnecting from the inside of your house and not outside where a lightning arrester is supposed to be installed If this is true you are still letting the lightning inside.
So, a lightning bolt or even a side bolt traverses 10000ft from the cloud down and then refuses to jump the relay contacts and all its energy rather goes to ground no matter how poorly or how inductive it is. ... Yeah, all I can say, P.T. Barnum was right.
One thing to know about lightning and antennas is that it can be initiated by large amounts of static building up on the antenna caused by winds during a storm. (Please don't take my word for it, it's an interesting topic to read about) The static encourages lightning to initiate from that point. Will those contacts stop lighting from arcing to the radio if it was to strike anyway? Probably not.
But... when the contacts are open to the radio, they are holding the antenna to ground, which is draining static off, and may discourage the lightning from wanting to initiate from that point to begin with. You could build something like this yourself much much cheaper, but that goes for everything like this in our hobby. You could build a g5rv for about 1/10th the buy it price.
73
Matt
W3MMW
@matthew weaver - Static electricity can not build up on an antenna. That is why you never see or hear of any lightning bolt striking an antenna. If this was a legitimate concern, one would think all those mountain top antenna farms would suffer lightning strikes regularly, and yet we never hear of it. It is ridiculous to think technicians race up to the mountain tops to disconnect all the antennas during a storm. And yet again, all police, fire, FOREST service, BLM, EMS, etc. enjoy continuous radio repeater service during all storms. These devices depicted in this video are a complete SCAM.
@whenpigsfly3271 you state here in this reply to me that static can not build up on an antenna, then elsewhere you explain to someone how gas discharge tubes drain off static so it doesnt have to be dissipated throguh the coax. Your argument is also that lightning doesn't strike antennas when there are countless videos and photos of antennas being struck by lightning and the aftermath. And yes, ems park rangers, fire, police all leave their antennas functioning during a storm.... because they have to. They are also tax funded, and replacing a blown up radio or antenna comes at everyone else's expense. I was working inside the gift shop at dutch wonderland back in high school 20 years ago when lightning got the 2 way radio repater antenna on the roof. It took out the repeater, the PA system and every cash register in the gift shop. There was nothing left of the antenna
You've also made it a point to tell others that gas discharge tubes can be had for a dollar, yet the cheapest chineese disposable one I see on Amazon is $16, and the name brand ones with replaceable discharge cartridges are closer to $50.
I'm not advocating anyone spend money on this product, I'm not even saying it's the only way to lessen the chance of a lightning strike, but it's an option if you don't want to make something like it your self.
Sorry nothing stops a direct hit from lightning. If a strike is close by, everything in your house will induce voltage. Wired alarm systems prone to damage, as well your radio etc. So unpredictable. Sorry I'll pass on this one.
You absolutely can protect from lighting. I work in cellular, and our towers get hit multiple times a year. As long as things are done right, you can contain it.
@@falsedragon33 Yes I agree with you if done right. Cell towers and the equipment are design with Lightning in mind. All the gear are in a steel or mostly aluminum enclosure. Heavily grounded.