"§ Dr. Artaud §" wrote:

Every year, I fear the spring and summer. I have a random wire antenna
that traverses one side of my property, the wire extending about 70 feet.
No lightning protection. I remove the wire from the radio when I am at home
and I know that I storm is coming. But when I am at work, and storms happen
unexpectedly, the radio stays connected. Even protecting the radio from the
static of a nearby lightning strike by disconnecting it doesn't protect the
house from the results of a strike to the wire.

I would like to switch to a V shaped antenna, perhaps it is what they refer
to as an "inverted V" extending from a central point on my house to both
sides of the property. I would like to feed the antenna with coax, so as to
reduce the likelihood of household interference. The feed would only be
about 20 feet long. I would have trouble grounding it at the apex of the V,
since that would be on the house itself and the patio is directly below it,
providing much cement but little ground to place the rod. Though I could
drill the patio, I am unsure of the pipes below it.

My lot, at least as far as the usable area for the antenna is concerned,
would be about 30 feet wide and 70 feet long, with the elevation of the V
to be approximately 12 feet from the ground.

Can anybody conceptualize an antenna that I can use, with lightning
protection, and provide links to it? Is anybody using something similar?

An inverted 'V' itself would be vertical... a horizontal 'V' I think is what you
envision.

Lightning protection is itself a science I suppose. Never had a direct hit here,
but did see blue sparklers off a disconnected lead 20 or so years ago.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

Drake R7, R8, R8A and R8B

http://www.iserv.net/~n8kdv/dxpage.htm