RADIO AND LIGHTNING

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 20, 2 December 1927, Page 3

RADIO AND LIGHTNING

Following several inquiries as to thé possible effects of lightuing upon radio installations, the following will be of interest:-During a recent thunders storm in Middlesbrough (England) four houses were struck by lightning and badly damaged. When the mate ter was reported to the Middlesbrough housing committee it was stated that the houses were situated in an area thick with wireless aerials, and were about the only four not equipped. The lightning experts at the Bureaw of Standards at Washington say:"Radio antennas are not to be regards ed as effective protection against light« ning, but, on the other hand, theie limited extent prevents them from bee coming a menace. They need not ba considered as potential inviters of lightning strokes, being in a class with other metal objects normally found about buildings, such as metal gut ters, downspouts, and wire clotheae lines."’ A good lightning arrester makes the radio lead-in safer thats these reputedly harmless building ace cessories. It should be needless tosay, of course, that the electrical na. ture of a radio set is no more attrac tive to lightning than that of an ele tric light or a flatiron.