Okay, since I'm installing an entirely new setup, what I'm looking for
here is the best way to ground my equipment and a large center-fed
wire dipole.

Lets start with the shack first. The radio and speaker are both
connected to the house ground through their power cords. To provide
better RF grounding, I'm thinking of everything (including radio &
speaker) connected with 1" copper braid to two salted (for increased
conductivity) ground rods just outside. Is that sufficient?

Next, to reduce the likelihood of lightning reaching the shack, the
only thing I can think of is a lightning arrester inline to two
additional salted ground rods, with the coax disconnected when not
used. I don't believe RF is an issue with a dipole, so is this
sufficient for lighting protection?

Give me your opinions. Am I missing something? Is there a better way?

stewart / w5net