Downlead
Encyclopedia
A downlead is an electrical wire or cable connecting an outdoor (particularly roof) structure to an indoor or ground structure.
- Most often, it refers to the wire connecting an outdoor (particularly roof-mounted) television antennaTelevision antennaA television antenna, or TV aerial, is an antenna specifically designed for the reception of over the air broadcast television signals, which are transmitted at frequencies from about 41 to 250 MHz in the VHF band, and 470 to 960 MHz in the UHF band in different countries...
to the interior, and may also be referred to informally as a dropDrop (telecommunication)Drop, in telecommunication, has several meanings.* In a communications network, a drop is the portion of a device directly connected to the internal station facilities, such as toward a telephone switchboard, toward a switching center, or toward a telephone exchange. A drop can also be a wire or...
. - It may also refer to the wires in a lightning protection systemLightning protection systemA lightning protection system is a system designed to protect a structure from damage due to lightning strikes by intercepting such strikes and safely passing their extremely high voltage currents to "ground"...
that connect the lightning rods to the grounding rods – formally, the bonding connectors that connect the air terminals to the ground terminals, and are also referred to as down conductors.