In article , Bill Turner
wrote:

On Fri, 16 Dec 2005 11:20:53 -0500, "Robert11"
wrote:

But, as a more or less theoretical question, to minimize the possibility of
lightning hitting the antenna at all, or inducing large voltages in it, is
it better to just leave the now "floating" antenna alone, or is it better to
ground one end of it ?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I doubt it matters. A lightning bolt, having traveled thousands of
feet to the vicinity of your antenna, will not be deterred by a few
more inches.

Bill-

That's what I was going to say!

I recall a field day activity where the club was using the press box of a
high school football field, with antennas strung between light poles. As
a storm approached, there were sparks several inches long jumping between
disconnected antenna connectors and nearby grounded equipment. These
sparks were induced by lightning strikes that were some distance away.

Grounding would have eliminated the sparks by providing a metalic path for
the discharge. I doubt it would have had any influence on whether an
antenna would be directly hit, or would have provided any substantial
protection in the event of a direct strike.

Traditional wisdom is that having tall trees nearby, as well as tall
objects such as light poles, will shield you from lightning. But there
are no guarantees. And lightning doesn't always strike the top of tower!

73, Fred, K4DII