[TowerTalk] Polyphaser failure mode

[Rick Stealey]

it works by 
> shorting the strike from the center conductor to the shell. But it stays 
> shorted, 

All that's inside a polyphaser is a series capacitor and a gas tube to ground.
At least for incidental (whatever they're called) strikes, doesn't the gas tube just conduct for a few microseconds and go back to life as normal?  And able to do this thousands of times?
If Pete had a larger strike, and the element sustained more damage I'd be very interested in knowing what happened inside the little box to leave it in a shorted or a low resistance mode.

A few years ago I made my own.  A bunch of SO239s on a panel with gas tubes to ground (about $2 each) and a series cap, or 2 or 3 on the 160 meter antenna.  So far so good.

Rick  K2XT