I am considering connecting a coil from the base of my vertical antenna to
ground, not for impedance matching, but to allow the charge on the ground to
slowly leak off at the top of the antenna. I will also use a lightning
arrestor but wonder if this additional step will further reduce the chance of a
lightning strike.

About a week ago I posted the above message. Several people responded and there
was a general feeling that the idea of allowing a gradual leak off of charge at
the top of the antenna would not prevent or even be likely to reduce the chance
of a lightning strike.

Tonight I was looking through my old "Elements of Physics" by Shortly and
Williams, fourth edition, page 697 and came across the following statement:

"The action of a well-grounded and sharply pointed lightning rod is primarily to
discharge quietly into the air the charge that is induced in the surrounding
earth by a charged thundercloud above. The electric intensity in the vicinity of
the sharp point is high enough to break down the immediately surrounding air and
the continual discharge prevents building up sufficient voltage over the whole
cloud-to-ground path to break down this long path and give rise to a stroke of
lightning at this location."

Comments?

Ron, W4TQT