Solution:

Tower & Rooftop Sites

Application:

Grounding & Lightning Protection

Lightning Rods

Tower Top Amplifier Protection

Power Strips T1, Phone, Data & Twisted Pair Protection

AC Power Protection Trapeze Kits

Grounding Kits

Ground Rods

Surge Suppression

Ground Bars AC Panel Protection

2008 TESSCO Technologies n May not be reproduced without permission

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Solution:

Tower & Rooftop Sites

Application:

Grounding & Lightning Protection

real World exampleS

Summary

Grounding and lightning protection are critical for keeping a wireless network performing 100 percent of the time. Electrical surges within the network can cause significant damage and expense if not properly addressed.
proBlem

Situation: A value-added reseller (VAR) had installed a small ISP on an old tower that was not properly grounded. During an unusually busy summer storm season, the access point failed and needed to be replaced three times. The warranty on the AP was voided due to lack of lightning protection, so the VAR had to replace the unit for free. Problem: The VAR was renting space on a tower he assumed was properly grounded, when in fact the tower owner neglected this protection in order to save money. Solution: The VAR grounded the tower with a ground rod kit. Then, he added a tower-mounted ground bar and cable grounds to help protect the cable runs. Inside the shelter, he added a cable surge arrestor. Costs were kept to a minimum and the site has now gone one year without damage. Situation: A local police department had a tower and radio for dispatching 911 calls. The equipment was built with proper grounding and surge protection in place. Problem: Due to the towers high elevation, it received lightening strikes almost weekly. Some were so powerful that they overcame the grounding prevention and damaged costly equipment. The police needed a way to reduce the number and severity of strikes. Solution: Static electricity can build up around sites and act as a magnet for lightning. The customer installed a static discharge unit, which reduced accumulated static buildup, helping to prevent lightning from striking the tower. Situation: A cell carrier uses copper grounding bars on its sites to protect against damage from lightning. At many of the sites, it is experiencing a high rate of theft of copper grounding hardware due to the high cost of copper. Problem: The sites are experiencing increasing rates of theft from criminals who steel copper and sell it for its high recycling value. The sites must be constantly monitored, and techs frequently check the site for missing hardware. Solution: On all sites, the carrier installed theft-deterrent copper ground bars, which are made of tinned copper and stamped with the message StolenDo Not Recycle. Additionally, ground bar lock boxes were installed on the sites that had been most frequently targeted in the past. The result was a virtual elimination of copper theft.

Many technicians and installers are not familiar with proper grounding techniques or they take shortcuts to save time and money. The result is a poorly performing grounding system which wont show any faults until its too late.
Solution

The proper design of a grounding system is critical and starts with testing to identify the sites resistance ground. In most cases, resistance of 5 ohms or less is required for proper grounding. If that threshold is not met, additional design elements, including soil enhancement, must be used. Four primary categories must be fully addressed to ensure a properly operating ground system that will protect a site:
rF Surge proteCtion

RF cables are highly conductive and can quickly and easily draw a surge to the heart of your wireless network. Proper grounding techniques require taking any surge off both the inner and outer conductors. Products: Surge arrestors, grounding kits, ground buss bars, arrestor trapeze kits.
grounding ring

A properly functioning grounding system begins with the grounding ring, the centralized network for quickly dispersing unwanted energy away from the site. Buried in the ground surrounding the site, all components of the grounding system are connected to the ground ring, including the external infrastructure.
2008 TESSCO Technologies n May not be reproduced without permission

Products: Exothermic molds and weld metal, ground wire, ground rods.
internal Shelter grounding

Proper grounding inside the shelter is a critical last line of defense from an electrical surge. Similar to the external grounding ring, a grounding halo is installed around the interior of the shelter. All active components are grounded to the racks or cabinets that secure them, with all racks and cabinets being connected to the grounding halo. Products: Ground wire, ground lugs.
aC proteCtion

Electrical impulses resulting from lightning and dirty power can cause surges that harm sensitive network equipment. Proper grounding of all AC at the exterior of the building and again at the connection of the equipment to AC is critical to ensure the highest level of protection. Products: AC surge protection, breaker boxes, line conditioners.

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Grounding
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Grounding
A complete selection of products and current pricing is immediately available. Make the decision thats right for you by visiting TESSCO.com.

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Grounding TIS Application Training

Customer Problem/Need
Customer is co-locating on an existing tower and does not know if the tower is properly grounded or not Customer is installing a new broadband radio for a WISP and believes proper grounding is too expensive.
With the dramatic rise in the price of copper, the customer is experiencing a lot of on-site theft of grounding components

Effects on Customer
Without proper grounding the customers wireless system is vulnerable to serious and costly damage.

Solution
Test if the tower is grounded. If yes, proceed to ground equipment to the tower. If not, then need to ground tower first.

Questions
Have you tested to make sure the tower is properly grounded?

Without proper grounding a customers wireless system is vulnerable to serious and costly damage. If one component is missing or malfunctioning then the whole system fails.
Direct lightning strikes will damage just about any grounded system. High strike areas are difficult to install. Without a well though out grounding plan, the customer is not maximizing their protection and putting their network at risk.

Grounding is not that expensive and can save a lot of money in the long run.

Do you buy car insurance? Grounding is the same thing.

TESSCO has an array of copper left prevention and deterrence products.

Have you had problems with copper theft?

Customer continues to take direct lightning hits and cannot stop serious damage to their radios. Customer is installing a new tower and site and needs to develop a grounding plan.

Proper protection is key, but in this case additional prevention, such as a dissipater, is required. After testing the soils resistance, TESSCO can help design a complete grounding protection system.

Is the lightning damage a recurring problem?

Have you made a site grounding plan? Have you tested the soils resistance?

Specific Opportunities
Broadband Radio Installation SCADA installs Urban Rooftop Sites Any Site in Florida, Texas, Louisiana Sites Experiencing Copper Theft Two Way Radio Installs

Problem/Need

Segment
Enterprise Users, VARs, Railroads, WISPs Oil & Gas, Water Treatment, Railroad, Mining Carrier, Tower Contractor

A, B, E D, E C D, E C A, D, E

ALL
Carrier, Tower Contractor, SMU, VAR VAR, SMU

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Obstacles to the Sale

Grounding is too expensive I will figure out grounding last The site is already grounded The radio comes with surge protection built in

How to Overcome
You buy auto insurance dont you? Might as well figure it out now before its too late Have you tested the site to be sure? A lot of tower installers attach grounding wires, but dont test it when their done. Radio OEMs are good at manufacturing radios, not surge arrestors. An after market surge arrestor is worth investment to protect your $10K radio. To be honest with you, neither do I, but I have a tech support team that can help.

I dont now anything about grounding.

SETTING UP THE TIS INTERCHANGE

REASON FOR THE CALL: Grounding is a difficult reason for my call. Your play is once the customer has ordered a radio, cable, antenna, connector, etc. to ask them how they are grounding their system.

UPFRONT CONTRACT: What I would like to talk to you about is your grounding plan. Have you developed one? SAMPLE DISCOVERY QUESTIONS:
1. 2. 3. 4. Is your tower/equipment properly grounded? Do you have a grounding plan for your site? Have you tested the resistivity of the soil before designing your site? How are you grounding that cable, antenna, tower, radio, rack, bridge kit, etc.?

Call TESSCO Today. 800.472.7373 | www.tessco.com

3rd PARTY STORIES BY APPLICATION & SEGMENT:

SMU (Railroad) Union Pacific was installing a new wireless backhaul site. The site included a 110 tower, 2 lines of 1-5/8 cable, two microwave radios, two dish antennas and aluminum cabinet secured to a platform. Union Pacific knew they needed to ground the site and looked to TESSCO to provide the correct materials for the system including a ground resistance tester, two PolyPhaser surge arrestors with N connectors at 5.2 GHz, a tower grounding system, four 1-5/8 ground kits, a ground bar with shelter mounting hardware, 500 of #2 wire, 8 copper clad ground rods, 50 lbs of soil enhancement material, 8 inspection welds, a #2 to 5/8 ground wire to ground rod Ultraweld mold with weld metal, a #2 ground wire to flat plate Ultraweld mold with weld metal (to attach wire to ground bar), 15 halo standoff clamps and 12 #2 lugs CRR A Tower contractor had to keep coming back to the same urban rooftop site because thieves were stealing the copper ground bar. Each visit to the site cost the carrier a minimum of $250 plus the cost of replacing the stolen products. If the site experienced a strike while the grounding system was malfunctioning, the cost to the carrier would have been in the tens of thousands of dollars. We took a two step approach to solving the problem. The first was prevention which included a tinned, stamped anti-theft ground bar making it more difficult to recycle and therefore less attractive to thieves. Since the site had been hit repeatedly, TESSCO also helped design a wireless surveillance system to catch the thieves in action next time they hit the site. Broadband Install (VAR, SMU & WISP): Customer called up for help with a point-to-point link. We designed a microwave solution that was to be installed on an existing 120 self supporting tower. The radio came with a surge arrestor, and we never asked them about grounding, so the customer thought they had all the grounding protection they needed. They installed the radio and three weeks later the link went dead. When they went to the site, the radio had been fried by a nearby lightning strike, although the other tenants were fine. The customer called TESSCO and asked for a warranty replacement. Since lightning strikes are not covered by any manufacturers warranty, the customer was forced to by a new radio (from somebody else because they were so mad at TESSCO). Had they been asked about grounding, they would have tested the site and realized that the tower was not properly grounded and built their own grounding system (like the other tenants)

COMPETITORS: Hutton, Talley, all electrical distributors, Primus COMPLIMENTARY PRODUCTS PRE-SALE Cable Antennas Towers Racks POST SALE Ohms Meter Ground Resistance Tester Gloves Wire Cutters Crimpers

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