Lightening can and does strike the earth anywhere in the world - in the South of France where it is warm during the days evening strikes are common. We have witnessed strikes on caravans that hit the aerials and penetrated the interior causing fires. Here is a solution we have used to help overcome this. There is a common belief that caravans are a Faraday cage and you will be safe inside. Caravans are a form of Faraday cage but the front, roof and rear are fiberglass.
Many sites have pitches under or near trees that is a prime target for a strike. I carry a two meter long alloy scaffold pole - very light weight, and fitted it with a spike at both ends that attaches to the jockey wheel clamp and sticks into the ground the other end I attach my satellite dish of 1.2 meters (needed in the South of France) this acts as an effective conductor - don't forget to disconnect the cable in a storm including your TV aerial if you have one.
Wow that is a hell of a size of Dish, but I agree 1.2m is probably the ideal size for the a South of France, in fact it may not even be large enough for the far West end of the French Med, maybe you can confirm if that is the case.
Last July we used a 1m Dish down at Frejus, most days we got all the Freesat channels, but some days we only got Sky News etc, even though the weather was perfect all the time, so I can only imagine that the satellite beam, would shift very slightly, when the satellite was adjusting it's attitude for solar collection.
Has your lightning conductor ever suffered a strike, as I was wondering what the outcome would be, I can only imagine complete devastation to the caravan!
Hi Francais,
We used to use an 800 dish down to Spanish border Argeles but that stopped two years ago, then moved on to a 1.1 with some success in Grimaud just down the Road from Frejus where we had difficultly, this year I recon this 1.2 should do it - I adapted my spare wheel carrier to fit the dish cos it is big - I can carry this with the bikes on the back with my Differential Stability device - would not try this without or recommend it to others. We were in Grimaud in June and right in the middle of a real banger - through the night kept the whole camp on their toes - strikes hitting the ground and sea only yards away. So it missed us but wow I would hope it would go to ground if it did. We were just praying it did not test it -I think it would destroy the dish but only £35 to replace.
I have found that fiddling with the dish is required so I have got one of those auto things that I can also tweak from the receiver in tiny increments - I'm getting the hang of it here before we set off.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Lightening Strikes
