Gary Deutschmann wrote:
"If you recall, I lost a tower to a lightning strike."

Yes. I was saddened by Gary`s misfortune.. My recollection of the event
is that the tower was aluminum. It seems there may have been a poor
electrical connection between tower sections which generated first great
heat. There was a lightning induced failure of one of the tower legs, if
I remember.

The commercial towers erected by one of the companies I worked for, all
had a copper cable about like a welding or jumper cable riunning the
length of the tower, connecting the top plate to the ground system for
the tower. Deep ground rods were connected to each tower leg.

I encountered these towers upon joining the company. I would not have so
specified those tower-length cables in those big steel towers, but it
must have worked as we never had any lightning damage to the towers. In
Gary`s case, such a cable might have prevented a melt-down.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI