[BC] Impedance changes - was lighting removal

[Cowboy]

On Thursday 29 June 2006 10:26 pm, Thomas G. Osenkowsky wrote:

> A beacon OTOH consists mostly of glass and may
> not have as great an influence as a conductor. This was
> the basis of my initial post.

 Well, I can say that some decades ago, a climber left a beacon
 open.
 1150, 220 foot stick, high power, but not the reference tower,
 in a six tower array.
 About a 6 degree shift in parameters, using loops, not toroids.
 Guess who climbed up and closed it ?
 All returned to normal.

 Following that, I once climbed the same tower, and poked my head
 and an arm above the top of the lightning rod, while a friend watched
 the parameters.
 Didn't need the friend. The TX automation threw out-of-tolerance
 alarms for both ratio and phase !

 Remember, the top of the stick is the highest voltage point, therefore
 the most sensitive to changes, even though current ( and therefore
 power ) is zero at that point.

 This is why the rules ( used to ) require a partial for any change
 above the base insulator, and why you can't just simply remove
 unused antennae, and various other hardware up the stick.

 Turning the lights off is an administrative issue.
 Removing them is an engineering *and* administrative issue.

-- 
Cowboy