Several years ago, after fiddling around with two 18AVQ verticals on my
roof, separated by 60 feet and fed broadside, I gave up.  I discovered to
two dad blamed verticals were not mechanically identical.  I discovered this
by taking them down, putting them side by side, and starting from the
bottom, feeling my way inch by inch up the tubing.  I discovered they were
slightly made differently.  I did get them to work but I could never get
them to match at 3800 where I wanted them.  So, I figured, well, shoot, I
don't have any rotating antennas on top of, at that time, my 55 foot tower
so pick the best of the two verticals, and put it up there.  I cuts 17
radials, each, 65 feet or longer, got the vertical on top of the tower,
which I discovered I needed help doing so a friend helped, and started
stringing the wires out and tying them to trees, fence posts, the house, and
every thing I could find.  It was August the first that day.  I fired up on
75 meters that night and the antenna, at 55 feet, with that much wire under
it, was a canon.  Hot dog!  I can't wait until the band builds up for the
winter DX season.  Two weeks later, a friend came over, he isn't a ham, and
worked on my computer.  We were standing in the very room I am in right now.
My antenna was disconnected, all my antennas were grounded, and as we
talked, my friend, who was born in Colorado said, Man, I've never seen a
lightning storm like this before.  It was a dry lightning storm.  I could
hear thunder rolling off the mountains but it was still far off.  The
lightning wasn't, far off, that is.  There is a question in this story so
keep reading.  I'm leaning against my metal desk talking to my friend.  My
grounding switch with the antennas all switched to ground, was three feet
away.  Suddenly, my ears popped and switched off.  I thought I had heard a
small pop in the room.  My ears rang but I could hear enough to talk and
communicate.  The man's wife had just walked into my office to see if we
were about done when she saw the flash over on the coax switch but she also
said she saw a flash of light behind my equipment.  Wonderful.  She reached
over and grabbed my arm and said, Get away from there.  Every breaker in my
breaker box had tripped.  My ground rod is about 5 feet from the breaker
box.  It hit my 18AVQ at 55 feet, blew the top three feet off, which was the
80 meter coil and whip sections, and from the energy build up in the room,
popped a couple of diodes in my ten tec transceiver.  It also burned up one
telephone and a few light bulbs throughout the house.  The coax connectors
at either end of the RG8 running to the vertical were burn black.  So, I now
have the R7 and normally use it on my roof at about 15 feet.  I have, bolted
to the back of my home, a 50 foot tower that had a two meter and 70
centimeter 26 foot diamond antenna.  We have high winds in January and
February but this last season, was ridiculous.  That dumb 400 dollar two
meter 70 CM antenna didn't survive.  Makes me mad.  So, I both a shorter
diamond dual bander and put it on the roof for safe keeping.  So my question
is, I know this was an unusual storm but I am a little gun shy now about
putting my R7 up on my 50 foot tower.  I've talked with guys with R7
verticals on 40 foot towers and shoot, all our repeaters around Denver are
on 9 and 10 and 11 thousand foot mountains.  So I keep trying to talk myself
into putting the vertical on this tower.  What do you think?  I like the
idea because of not having to string radials all over the property.  What I
am more afraid of is that the vertical won't take the wind more than it will
be hit by lightning.

Phil.
K0NX