[Towertalk] Lighting Protection and Roof Towers

[n4kg@juno.com]

N4KG comment and question below.

On Wed, 11 Dec 2002  Jon Ogden <na9d@speakeasy.net> writes:

	SNIP
> 
> Realize too that one aspect of lightning protection is that lightning 
> will generally hit objects that are the highest in the immediate area. 


> A roof tower, may still be significantly lower than other items in your

> immediate area such as trees, etc.  YMMV, and it's not something 
> you want to count on, but being lower than other objects around you 
> does mitigate some risk.
>
>			SNIP 
> Jon  NA9D
...................

I have 7 towers, ranging in height from 40 ft to 140 ft.
To the best of my knowledge, I have NEVER taken a
direct lightning strike.

OTOH, I HAVE seen lightning hit the power transformer
in front of my next door neighbor's house, approximately
100 ft West of my 40 ft tower (with TH7 on top).  

I have also seen where lightning split a medium size tree (50 ft?)
in the middle of the front yard across from my next door neighbor.
This tree was surrounded by a rectangle of trees surrounding the
2.5 acre lot.

And, I have seen lightning strike behind the house across the street,
apparently in a large cotton field.  

So much for hitting the tallest objects around... 

(Thank Goodness ! )

Any ideas why?

Tom  N4KG

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