It got me to thinking of putting the end of the wire in a jar, which
is what I did. The alternative was to toss it out the window, but
that wasn't viable at the time.



Think about that above statement. Do you really think that a lighting
strike capable of traveling hundreds or thousands of feet in the air is
going to be detered by a couple millimeters of glass, or a couple inches to
the opening?



Ed K7AAT