Hi All,
I am contemplating putting up an inverted Vee antenna where the center point is above my house suspended with a 30' Lowes push up mast attached to my roof with a tripod mast base made for roof mounting. This would make the apex at almost 50', and with the trees around my home, the ends at about 30'. Other locations that I might have the antenna apex at will be densely surrounded by trees, and I am trying to avoid that. My question is about lighting concerns with this approach. I would have multiple 12 awg ground straps from the mast base to earth ground via copper ground stakes at least 5' long. This would act as a counterpoise for the antenna, and provide a DC ground reference for the 30' mast. My fear is that the antenna would attract a lightning hit (direct) and that would cause my home to burn up in a flaming fireball. Then I was thinking about how lightning rods work, and when done properly, don't lightning rods work by having a sharp point at the tip, where they bleed the static (a corona discharge) to prevent a lightning strike? If so, why can't I take a 1/8" stainless 8' whip with a point on top, mounted above the inverted Vee apex, and use that as a lightning rod? I guess I'd need to beef up my ground wiring scheme just in case of a direct hit. Any suggestions? I am hoping for having more lightning protection with my antenna in place over that of no antenna at all? Is this possible? Regards, Jim Candela WD5JKO -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.10.7/409 - Release Date: 8/4/2006
