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Lightning Protection

Broadcast

Typical Applications

  • AM Radio, FM Radio and Television

  • Broadcast tower and supporting infrastructure product requirements

  • Site grounding for personnel safety, lightning protection, service reliability and improved signal propagation (notably AM Radio systems)

Risks and Opportunities

  • Loss of service and equipment and infrastructure damage resulting from lightning strikes

  • Noise and electrical interference caused by improper grounding practices and systems - especially at sites shared by multiple vendors whose individual grounding systems may conflict with each other - resulting in degraded quality of service or costly service interruptions

  • Lost time and revenue from lack of project management or sourcing and integrating issues associated with broadcast related projects, whether deploying new installations or upgrading existing infrastructure

Potential Solutions

  • Improve site electrical and lightning protection systems to comply with regulatory standards and best practices, and to reduce ambient electrical noise and risk of lightning damage that cause outages and degraded service

  • Improve performance of grounding system with effective, long-life electrodes that dissipate the high levels of lightning energy without damaging broadcast equipment or infrastructure

  • Improve the electrical protection system to reduce disruptive ambient electrical noise and surges

  • Review and audit site surge protection to ensure site equipment is adequately protected against electrical spikes and power line surges that can degrade or disrupt service

Next Steps

Installing a new site, or upgrading or expanding an existing broadcast site? Contact SAE to assist in defining or responding to your requirement, from material supply to installation and project integration and management services.

Suffering from unexplained technical problems or noise at one or more of your broadcast sites? Poor or incorrect grounding systems are often responsible, and SAE is happy to investigate, analyze and resolve potential grounding issues, especially in shared equipment environments.

Concerned about the loss of service and financial impact of a damaging lightning strike? Call or eMail SAE for a complete audit and analysis of your internal and external grounding system. Specific recommendations can be followed up with engineered grounding system designs and the installation of effective, robust and long-life grounding solutions.

Grounding & Electrical Protection
Lightning Protection
Engineering Services