20 Basic Antenna Installation Safety Rules (Pt.1 of 2)

Are you planning on buying an outdoor antenna or have you just purchased one to extend your scanner’s reception capabilities from an average of 15-20 miles to 50-70 miles or more? If so, great job!

Now it's time to put that baby up. No need to be afraid of an antenna installation if you follow some basic rules. 

At my previous home, I installed a discone antenna like the one pictured above and everything went pretty smooth.

Before you being installing your new antenna, there are some important things you should know and precautions you should take to avoid serious injury or death while installing your antenna.

That said, I have put together a list of 20 Basic Antenna Safety Rules to follow when installing an antenna. Some of the rules may seem obvious, however, for safety’s sake, they bear repeating.

Here are the 20 Basic Antenna Safety Rules to know and/or follow:

#1 – FIRST TIME INSTALLERS: If this is your first time installing your new or dismantling your old antenna, or if you are unsure of your abilities to do the installation/dismantling, you may want to find some help from a qualified antenna installation company or hire one to do the installation.

#2 – READ DOCUMENTATION: If you decide to proceed with your own installation/dismantling be sure to read the manufacturer's instructions/directions. Pay close attention to any warnings/advisories in full before proceeding with your installation. There may be important safety advice contained in these directions/instructions.

#3 –PLANNING THE INSTALLATION: Take the time to plan your installation procedure. Make sure you have all the parts and tools you will need before beginning. Choose an installation site for safety as well as performance. Optimally, you want to be away from power, cable and telephone lines. Do not place an antenna where it could potentially fall on, or blow down on during a storm into a power line.

#4 – OVERHEAD/UNDERGROUND UTILITY LINES: The installation/dismantling of any antenna near overhead power, telephone, or cable lines is very dangerous and can cause SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH if you or the antenna comes in contact with those lines. Also, watch where your lead in or coax lines are running.

#5 – NEVER ASSUME: All electric power, cable, and telephone lines may look alike. Each year people are killed or seriously injured while attempting to install/dismantle an antenna. To be safe, you should treat ANY OVERHEAD line as if it could seriously injure or kill you because it can.

#6 – IF DIGGING IS REQUIRED: Utility lines are is also buried underground. These include all of the utilities: Electric, Gas, Water, Cable, and Sewer. If you have to dig to bury the antenna cable or whatever else, be sure you know where these lines are to avoid potentially hitting one. You never know what may be under your feet and you don’t want to find out while digging a hole in the ground.

#7 – FAILSAFE DISTANCE: The failsafe distance is the minimum safe distance to avoid the antenna potentially falling on nearby utility lines should the antenna get blown over during a severe wind or rain storm.  To determine the FAILSAFE DISTANCE follow these steps:

A. – Determine the total height of your antenna.

B. – Add the antenna length of any mast or pole to the length of your tower mast.

C. – Double that figure (or close to double) just to be extra safe should it fall over.

Your answer to the above three calculations will be the minimum failsafe distance from the nearest utility line that you should install your antenna.

#8 thru #20 - Continued in Part-2 coming next week...

That’s it for now. Till next time, stay safe and happy scanning!

-RF