Several years ago, maybe more than five, I went to the Polyphaser lecture in
Dayton. It was very good including good projected diagrams and a great
lecture. The layout they proposed was fantastic..trench after trench
incasing a mountain of copper, wagon wheels of copper around the tower and
house etc. The design was very impressive...and then after all of the
reasons for such detail....the presenter said simply that nothing would
protect you completely and that even the best layouts have flaws...or
something like that. I thought...so why bother with these extremes if even
the best of the best offers marginal protection at best.
And yes, I have been here and done this before: After dealing with the
tornado disaster here in '97-- 168K damage to my home, antennas gone and
equipment ruined..and dealing my insurance vendors and settlement procedures
on all of that...I decided to pretty much do as little as I have to:
ground rods, ice suppressors on my coaxes and rotors, tower grounds etc. and
not obsess about it. I took out a separate policy on just the tower against
any type of damage and my homeowners covers the rest. I would guess the
Polyphaser setup would cost $20K or so if done properly...Not saying that is
a bad thing but it is a bad bet for dollars invested for me personally. I
would much rather pay my homeowners insurance and the other dedicated policy
and not worry about it. If I get whacked..I am paying in advance for that
possibility. Since, to paraphrase the Polyphaser guy...regardless of all of
our time, money and efforts we are still subject to and cannot defeat the
upper hand of mother nature. Just another way of looking at it. Tommy WD4K
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