There is a straight physical explanation for the guy who got hit with a
skinny vertical antenna but has no hits supposedly on his 40 foot tower.
If you ever watch a lightning storm advance over flat open country, and it
encounters a hill, you will see the lightning diminish or cease while the
storm passes over the high ground. That is because a large volume high
projection over average ground has the capacity to discharge the static
charges of the situation, thus diminishing the voltage potential between the
hill and the storm. Of course, the voltage gradient in air to the
surrounding flat ground is greater than that from the hill to the storm.
Now the 40 foot tower is also providing a cone of protection and discharging
the static build up in its vicinity.
There is no significant "movement" inside the Diamond antenna that would
initiate a strike. Its skinny profile might not adequately discharge the
surrounding area. Its inner conductor is about a 12 gauge wire, inside the
fiberglass insulator as I recall. It also, has some looped loading elements
which increases its inductance to charges, and slows discharge.
Stuart
K5 KVH
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
|