[Amps] Best RF-Ground Story

[HAROLD B MANDEL]

[ snip ]
> > The absolutely, positively best possible RF ground for receiving 
> 160m  DX signals from Europe is a steel waterwell casing 1/2-wave deep 
> (c. 250').  
[snip ]

When living in Elmira, NY some thirty years ago our house was hit by
lightning. The strike hit the overhead electrical lines and went through
150 feet of underground conduit before emerging from an outlet and
burning its way through the house. 

We lost every appliance, including the light bulbs and wall switches.

My tube HF station was protected. It was unplugged and the 136 foot
Windom was disconnected when not in use. 

On inspecting, the insurance adjuster spoke to us of previous
experiences,
and told us that the light bulb and wall switch destruction was common.

He also said to disconnect everything when a storm came around. Our farm
was on the top of a hill and we could see other farms in the distance.
The
adjuster said to notice where lightning was striking: The tops of well
casings more often than not. He suggested a well pump lightning arrestor
as well as an electrical panel arrestor for the primary surges, and even
subordinate protectors for as many circuits as we could afford.

Needless to say my wife and I became paranoid about another lightning
fire and budgeted whatever we could into protection devices. If something
wasn't being used we unplugged it if we could, and when a serious storm
approached we flipped circuit breakers to the appliances we couldn't
unplug.

We had no further strike damages.

Hal
W4HBM