[TowerTalk] Lightning attraction to "attic dipoles"

[Dudley Chapman]

Jim,

    It seems that both everyone and noone is an expert on lightning.  So
there is no reason to think that I have any more insight into your question
than you would have.  However, there is something I do know that might help
ease your mind.  

    There is nothing unique about a piece of wire we may have chosen to use
as an antenna.  Every piece of metal in the world is being excited by
whatever rf is in the air.  As such, there is no difference between your
dipole in the attic and any of the other wiring in your house, except you
have chosen to connect it to a radio and detect the rf on it.  

    Given that, there is no reason to believe that lightning would be any
more attracted to the dipole in your attic than any of the house wiring in
your house.  So, although this is not guarantee your house won't be hit by
lightning, you can be pretty certain that the addition of a dipole inside
your attic won't contribute to increasing that probability.

    However, if your house does get hit by lightning, there is an
unpredictably good chance that almost any device in the house that is either
connected to your antenna, connected to the incoming phone or cable tv
lines, or just plugged into the house wiring could get some damage.  So when
it comes to disconnecting your radio, I would say that you should follow the
same policy for your radio that you apply to every other device in the house
that is plugged into the wall.

    In fact, there is a higher probability that lightning will hit the power
lines somewhere out on a pole which could bring big voltage spikes or worse
into your house.

    I hope this helps.

Regards,
Dudley - WA1X


Message: 3
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 04:59:24 -0600
From: "Jim Miller" <JimMiller at STL-Online.Net>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Lightning attraction to "attic dipoles"
To: "TOWERTALK" <TOWERTALK at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <00ea01c536a9$dd7c4910$6500010a at HmJM500>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

Has anyone seen or heard of anything that would make you suspect that
dipoles in the attic would increase the likelihood of a strike to the house?


Is there any reason to disconnect them from my equipment for this reason
when not in use or can I feel as safe from a strike as without dipoles (no
lightning rods)?

TIA, Jim KG0KP