On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 13:33:41 -0500, "PowerHouse Communications"
said in rec.radio.scanner:

Just a thought here, but did you drill any holes in the pipe to insert the
wire into before soldering? My thinking is that if the wire is just
soldered to the outside of the pipe (without any other means of holding the
wire attached to the pipe,) that should a lightning strike ever happen, the
intense heat from the huge amount of electrical discharge may just melt the
solder and allow the wire to become detached from the grounding pipe.

In the event of a direct lightning strike, the wire, the pipe (the
mast and antenna too) will disappear.

"Lightning protection" will protect the radio from static buildup from
nearby strikes, rain (raindrops carry a charge), etc. Don't *E*V*E*R*
think that you or your radio are "protected" against lightning by a
flimsy 6 inch thick piece of copper, let alone by a piece of wire, no
matter how thick. A lightning bolt is *at least* a few thousand volts
and a few thousand amps. (Yes, that's a MILLIONS of watts - for each
full strike.) The temperatures approach that of the sun.

Not impressed yet?

I've seen a well-"protected" commercial broadcast antenna (the gap
balls were about a foot in diameter each, grounded by solid rods a few
inches in diameter - no mere "wire") turn into a blackened concrete
base with 4 holes in it (where the tower legs had been), so don't
think that anything you install will do better. If you assume that a
direct strike to the antenna will kill you if the cable is still
connected to the scanner, you'll live a lot longer.

The last thing anyone wants is a link to a newspaper article telling
us how some hobbyist died from a lightning strike to his antenna.