[TowerTalk] Open wire line no longer the weak link

[Steve]

A few months ago I replaced my #18AWG open wire feeding my 80 meter 
dipole with #8AWG open wire.

For a long while my transition from outside to inside has been a window 
pane of glass that I replaced with plexiglass. I put short pieces of 
threaded rod thru the plexiglass to serve as feedthrus. About 70 feet of 
open wire leaves the threaded-rod termination on the outside and makes 
its way up to the center of my dipole, which is supported in a tree and 
surrounded by other trees.

Through the course of a year there will be several good size branches 
fall from those trees. Seems like it’s just a matter of time until one 
of them hits my open wire on the way to the ground.

I wasn’t concerned about it with the #18AWG, thinking the small wire was 
the weak link and would break before anything else gave way.

But the bigger wire –- the #8AWG –- moves the weak link to somewhere 
else. Probably the pane of plexiglass. And on the inside there’s about 
15 feet of the same open wire tied to a switching relay which is tied to 
antenna tuners. I can envision how a large branch could tear the 
plexiglass out of the window, tear my relay and mounting into pieces, 
etc. Not a pretty picture.

What can I do to ensure that the plexiglass pane remains intact when 
something big from a tree falls across the open wire line?

Thanks.

Steve K8JQ