Tech Talk And Hang Time At Mr Carlson's Lab!
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- See the 3-6-9 Antenna working, and how well it performs! Also, a piece of test equipment that isn't normally seen, see it operating and what it does. Grab your favorite snack and a drink, sit back and enjoy! Click the SHOW MORE tab below for links.
To learn electronics in a very different and effective way, and gain access to Mr Carlson's personal designs and inventions, visit the Mr Carlson's Lab Patreon page here: / mrcarlsonslab
#learnelectronics #3-6-9Antenna #MrCarlson
To learn electronics in a very different and effective way, and gain access to Mr Carlson's personal designs and inventions, visit the Mr Carlson's Lab Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/MrCarlsonsLab
Is there a path from absolute beginner or is a basic level of understanding taken for granted?
Tesla's nano power grid!
If anyone is on the fence on becoming a patron. I Have been a member for almost 2 years at the highest level now and it's worth every cent!
What are the Wavelengths of your external antenna?
@@whaleneck1303 Thinking the same thing. Tesla's free energy tower. There is a smaller version of a [X] shape UN-powered wire loop antenna using a variable capacitor that will tune ANY AM radio to perfection. Search for it on UA-cam for a demo and the specs to build it. As a former B-747-400 International pilot (retired) back before (CPDLC) Controller Pilot Datalink Communications, which Russian ATC enjoyed using all the time now, HF radio was the only way to go, antenna tuning was pretty simple on new aircraft....
The 9:27 mark:
Nicola Tesla at work...induction
ALL HAIL NICOLA TESLA!!!
Damn, Beat me to it.
This guy is an absolute genius. This is the most detailed, accurate, intelligent and informative electronics channel you will see on UA-cam and in real life. I have watched all of the electronics channels on UA-cam and this one is bar none the best channel for professionals, hobbyists, and even the beginners. Not only intelligent but also does everything professional and meticulous
YES This is a very educational experience!!
Nice, efficient enough to light up leds just from RF in the air like a wireless power setup. I guess a downside to that it's also very efficient at picking up 50kV spikes from lightning strikes even at 10-20 miles away. I don't think the leds would like that. Doesn't receviers have peak input signal limits of just a few V before something bad happens?
Input capacitors, and clamping diodes, can protect the receivers front end.
Paul, you do have one hell of a setup there. Great video as always. I appreciate the time you put in your quality videos, a pleasure to watch. Best regards from germany, my friend.
Hi Paul,
That's a very effective antenna. When you were measuring the voltage across the antenna leads, would a VTVM give a more accurate reading? You and the family stay safe. 73 WJ3U
Yes, the HP-410B would be a better choice for reading the RF level. Thanks for your kind comment Don!
And removing the LEDs while taking the reading would be better too. Very impressive. I wonder if most of that power is coming from just one local station? It would be interesting to take some readings via bandpass or tuned filters.
Equipment I could only dream about. And if I could just use 10% of their features I would be satisfied enough.
Well, I was at work today and eating my lunch watching this video… this had gotten me very interested after I heard it was about the new antenna you had built!!! Then it was all ears and eyes on the deck, very excited and happy to here more about this antenna! Thank you Mr. Carlson
Very interesting demo! Though they are low current, high brightness LEDs, the fact that you can light up a row of them like that with no power input whatsoever is fascinating. Very Tesla-esque as many other people have mentioned. Paul, I'm interested in how you calculated the three antenna lengths and how the shorter ones inductively couple to their longer extensions. Is there a coil between the two lengths or is it just an insulator?
Like this a lot
I have a strange feeling , this is not the sort of guy that repairs iPhones at the mall
He could open your iPhone and turn it into a nuclear generator with things he has in the refrigerator
And pierce your ears at the same time.
@@martymcgill1312 "Works nice now, has reception everywhere, even in the middle of the ocean .. but the tube sticking out of the back makes it a little weird in the pocket."
Mr Carlson, have you considered ground rod earth loops by having four rods as you described. Also, regarding the distance of the rods apart giving rise to bigger earth loops but better overall impedance to earth. Also, the resistivity of frozen soil compared to warmer soil for example....?
I guess it's worth having these new issues in comparison to a noisy grid tied earthing system but would love to hear your input or perhaps experiments.
1 cycle out sounded like the "alien signal" from the movie contact.
How many angstroms was that?
Ti's the devils magics. Grabith yawn pitching forks!
Induction... it's amazing stuff. How many LEDs could be lit up this way? The antenna receives RF from remote radiostations, obviously, which is what powers the LEDs. I am curious - would the antenna be 'good enough' to power LEDs from just cosmic background radiation (assuming no radio stations) and/or anything else it'll pick up?
I am asking because it reminds me a bit of Tesla's experiments with a elevated plate being charged up and periodically discharged into a capacitor, gathering supposedly minute quantities of energy. I think later in his life, on July 10, 1932 Nikola Tesla stated: "I have harnessed the cosmic rays and caused them to operate a motive device." That may be a different experiment, but interesting too.
All this is very interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing, mr. Carlson! Much appreciated!
I guess it depends how far away a thunderstorm is.... ? In fair weather it can be 100-300Volt per meter (height), and near a thunderstorm it will be in the thousands of V/m, strongly peaking when striking. I don't think it is all rf, but I could be wrong.
@@erikdenhouter That's an interesting observation - that's static electricity, I believe, but I am not sure if that's the same phenomenon mr. Carlson showed us, which is likely RF energy. I'd love to hear from him about the phenomena we watched. It's fascinating.
@@alpcns You're right, the capacitor shows it is about rf only.
@@erikdenhouter I wonder how close his 369 is to overhead power lines ... could he be getting loose coupling to them ?
Or even electromagnetic radiation at ELF ... 🤔
@@peterfitzpatrick7032 I don't think so, Paul doesn't speak about power lines anywhere. And (as I read) ELF (extreme low frequencies, in the tens of Hz) can not easily pass a .1 µF capacitor, but... the current that makes these LED's glow is low, I think not more than 75µA.
I think this video explains perfectly why I love having electronics as my hobby. There's so much I don't know, so much to learn. I occupies my mind. I run my own small engineering company as a day job but learning electronics from people like Mr Carlson is becoming a bit of a 'passion'. Every small breakthrough is a massive high for me.
I have a heap of vintage valve radios I've been wanting to restore and this channel has taught me so much about the proper technique to use.
Manuel at Electronics Old and New by M Caldeira is also an excellent teacher when it comes to repairing
vintage tube radios. Step by step process of repairing of your typical European manufacturer of vintage
radios is well demonstrated if your serious on getting to your restoration of your collection!
Did you build in any meaures against static electricity from your antenna? I can imagine it can generate high voltage spikes when there's a thunderstorm nearby that can deamage your equipment. I'd really like some more info about how this antenna works. It seems to function really well!
Yes, oddly enough, we rarely have lightning here, but when I was at the top of the ladder working on the antenna, there were some flashes far off and distant thunder, I could draw arcs from the coax F connector to the mast pipe. This was before the ground rods were connected. I'm very glad I didn't touch the mast and F connector at the same time at the top of that ladder! What are the chances of all this happening at the same time? I should go buy a lotto ticket.
@@MrCarlsonsLab When I built my first receiver, a transistor super-regenerative short wave radio kit, it needed an antenna. I used 30 feet of magnet wire strung on small hooks under the eaves of the roof across the front of my home. Since I lived in tornado alley, severe thunderstorms were fairly common. The first time I saw a storm approaching, I disconnected the antenna from the radio so I could attach it to the air duct which I used for a ground. Before I could attach it to the duct, there was a flash of lightning more than a mile away, which I saw and felt at the same time. This demonstrated to me that you don't need a direct lightning strike to generate some impressive voltage spikes in a 30 foot wire antenna. Static / corona is another thing that can build up on elevated metal objects during storms or from falling snow, as you have shown in another video.
@@MrCarlsonsLab ok, fair enough.. 😊 I wouldn't want to see any of the equipment in your lab being damaged. Or you for that matter..
Excellent discussion of coil coupling. And 'no trickery!'
Nice box... At some point it would be fun to add a 10MHz reference to my lab, but given our business focus on analog audio, its not really a high priority to have ultra precise frequency measurement.
He's the retired Canadian chief engineer in Q's lair.
pretty soon all the radio stations in a 100 mile radius are going to wonder why their breakers keep tripping when you short those antenna leads ;P
I wish that you had a SDR on that 3-6-9 antenna that we could listen to your SDR online that would be cool.
1Hz sounded like the "alien signal" in Contact :) That was a great demonstration!
Is this a traveling wave antenna? I've not seen the element coupling like this before. For TW antennas, they're terminated into a 50 ohm resistance, but you're not doing that. Is the inductive coupling of the isolated wire elements functioning as a type of matching stub?
That demonstration was really cool and informational. Thank you, Paul. Is directionality a factor in the 3-6-9 antenna?
In order to make this video more self-contained, and for the benefit the uneducated, it would be useful if relatively unfamiliar terms such as 3-6-9 antenna could be redefined.
_Paul, would your antenna improve the performance of a crystal radio?_ 🤔
“Improve” :) That’s an understatement.
You remind me of those guys that show how magic tricks are done. The only difference is that, if you think hard enough, you can figure it out, right? The ideas and principles you share with us is real magic (and you don't wear a mask). The science that you share could not be figured out without training and knowledge. That's where you come in. You're magic is way more interesting.
Very cool! I didn't realize it could also work this well in the AM Broadcast range.
SWR at 1MHz is in the One's. I will show this on the VNA soon.
Paul, It might be interesting to see the potential difference between the antenna-ground and the bonded house-ground!
I'd guess it could be at least several volts potential! Just curious...
I cannot argue with the results, but the idea of not bonding the antenna’s ground to the service ground does not sit well with me. I’m sure you have already weighed the risks.
Can’t wait to see more with the 3-6-9 antenna. Maybe baluns and antenna tuners.
15:50 - Is the brightness constant no matter how many LED's you add? If so, your 3-6-9 is acting as a constant current source!
Camera AGC. Also leds hard to vary brightness by current (one of reason to using PWM for that)
Very impressive that the antenna picks up enough signal to light those LED's.
13:28 😳 That's an EXTREMELY efficient antenna...
It's not easy to get a SINGLE high efficiency LED to simply flicker, with a "rectenna" design at a single frequency, much less get 4 of them to be lit constantly from broadband R.F.
That antenna much have a HUGE bandwidth, and have a bunch of gain at a wide range of frequencies. Well done! 👌
Are you near some kind of huge R.F. source, or is your antenna simply receiving general signals equivalent to what would be comparable to what an average neighborhood would see?
I'm out in the sticks, no big stations here. Thanks for your kind comment!
Im really digging this format. Thanks.
The LED set up reminds me of the first radio I built, a crystal set, a radio without power. Thinking about it, this could be used to light up low drain signs, like a house number for example. I feel some experimentation coming on!!!! As always an interesting, thought provoking video
Mr C's Lab spins me back down the years and the days of my youth watching Star Trek. Someday Paul might show us his Top Secret VTWD (Vacuum Tube Warp Drive). Maybe even a teardown. Ya knooow... That's how he travels back in time to find all these vintage gems. Except for the ones he invents, like the Internet, but that secret is safe with me... Cheers!
The theory behind WARP drive engines is to compress the 'space' in front of the spacecraft
and 'expand' it at the back of the spacecraft. -- Though no one has been able to figure out
how to do it. Thus like evolution of the species, it remains an unproven 'theory'.
It is unlikely that civilization will survive long enough to discover the answer.
All we have discovered is 101 ways to destroy this world we live on - Newer methods of
ecological destruction are being invented.
Well, there you go, it a great example of inductive coupling.
Magicians Show. I expected a deck of cards any time.
Hi, could this be what Tesla had in mind to power the world without cables directly attached, transmit power via radiated RF. The power companys were not very happy. Strange how he died not long afterwards. So keep looking over your shoulder Mr Carlson!!
May I ask what was causing the warning light on the Fluke to illuminate?
RF levels.
@@MrCarlsonsLab Thank you.
I will be building this antenna as soon as Paul publishes the dimensions for it. In my studies of Nicola Tesla, he concluded the the numbers 3-6-9 were the key in mathematics to understanding the universe. Is there any correlation there, Paul? Bob V.
Robert Viggiano
Nikola Tesla not Nicola Tesla.
You are forgetting that most languages are phonetic - except
English which is not phonetic and a corrupt language with allows
it to hide a lot of secrets -- when one connects the dots.
Also note that TESLA is a CORPORATION and written in the ALL CAPS iteration.
Tesla is the name of the well-known inventor from Croatia.
Very few people can write these names correctly as they do not know any better --
unfortunately, it is a result of 'Manufactured Ignorance,' and the vast majority of
people are just not observant and fail to pay attention to detail.
This failure results ultimately in their early demise - Sooner or later, a fatal error
will occur. I learned that as a pilot in the Airforce.
Good luck and goodbye
@13:30 ..now lets try this with a lightning storm close by :-D Friends in Frankfurt used to light their garden outhouse and barbeque area with incandescent bulb light chains with a long wire antenna. There was a strong AM station a mile away. Apparently obtaining power this way is illegal in Germany, especially if using a tuned circuit.
@ Mr Calson: could you do the LED trick with a tuned circuit? Just curious..
"Project moses"
I must admit that I cannot watch this video unless I have a great dinner ready and a few good beers... Semper fi!
That is so impressive! Tell us more, lenght, with between wires and more. I know it's a wide band listning antenna, but how about transmitting on the ham bands? 73 de LA6UOA!
Yes more info on length of wires used, PLEASE.
I have one of those HP function generators. Neat piece of kit.
Some time ago in a winter icing condition you filmed a long wire antenna bringing an electrical discharge into your lab that was perplexing, have you ever been able to figure out what was going on?
watch video " walter lewin makes a battery out of cans and water" probably the same principle only ice crystals instead of water dropping charge on the antenna wire as they pass by.
I've finally gotten up the gumption to repair my Bauer 707 and get it back on 75M AM.
The 707 is a nice transmitter!
Lemme hangout with you Mr Carlson and im curiosity caught my mind's eye 🤓
Your demo with LEDs reminded me of the video I saw years ago. Here it is ua-cam.com/video/eMEzUp_8az8/v-deo.html
90m of steel cable hanging from the old tower, 150kW AM radio transmitter nearby gives a nicely speaking arc.
Mr C: I built my own DDS function generator with OCXO a few months ago and can tune it up to WWV by allowing the generated 10 MHz to mix with WWV as it arrives from about 2400 km away. Listening to it on a SW receiver gives me the same beat noise that you showed. However...
I understand that the frequency that arrives from WWV from that distance is not so accurate (up to about 8 Hz out) due to doppler shifts induced by the ionosphere. John T. Stanley of the NBS wrote a white paper on this subject in 1972. You don't seem to worry about that. Am I missing something?
Hi John. I think the paper may have been misunderstood. The Spectracom disciplined oscillator operates directly from the WWVB at 60kHz, and is +/-1.0 E-9
@@MrCarlsonsLab Ohhhh... You use WWVB to discipline your in-house standard. I am the one who misunderstood.. By the way my name is Tim, not John. I'm sorry, now I understand. I was listening to WWV 10 MHz by sky-wave which is notoriously drifty. The white paper I mentioned was written in 1972 by John T. Stanley of the National Bureau of Standards and details all of this stuff. Too bad I can't send you a link to it. I may have to look into making a WWVB receiver...
Is your electrical supply transformer neutral point not grounded. They are in the UK.
Yes they are. This is a completely separate ground system known as an RF ground.
Ok I haven't thought about this in a long time but there was a analog cellphone that would self charge if the single was good enough all it would changed so the same thing is going on here this would be great for a backup cell charger in a power outage
Though I would wonder what the power out putt would be it if you started up your radio transmitter you have in your basement betting it spike very high thank you for the video mr Carlson
I think a video on frequency standards (and some low end/hobby level alternatives) would be awesome
I have been intrigued by ground rod's for some time now, as far as I know, it's usually just a copper rod hammered into the ground but I have a theory where if the ground rod was insulated with just the tip exposed to ground at the deepest point, I'm expecting a greater difference in potential as the ground point would now be grounded in a more negative point of the earth and thus providing a much stronger signal. My thought process is that the bare copper rod would follow normal Electric rules and thus conduct at the path of least resistance... By forcing it to source ground at a deeper point, you should effectively be increasing the power of the antenna...
It's an experiment that I have been wanting to do but I just haven't got around to it yet....
I really wanted to see the open circuit voltage of your antenna but you didn't end up showing it...
I wonder what voltage will be present during snow fall? Or rain fall?... Maybe a future video lol????
Deep thoughts by Peter Milanovski
@@KD2HJP Deep observation by Charles Nolan 🤓
I'm currently staring at my shack's ground rod. I fully blame you.
At least it has potential. (See what I did there)
73 DE KD2HJP
Ground rod's what? Noun missing.
Well this post quickly went deep south!
13:38 @ the part of video when the Indian tech community saw that. will make a video that will say in the title Free energy =)
Indian Tech only I watch a lot of videos on youtube about free energy
Hi Paul. That is a cool test gear. I have the same hp generator that you are using and the old gilrl just keeps clicking along. You have one of the best setups for videos also. Never a bad one.
I have learned a lot from your videos even after doing repairs on ham radios and amps for many ryears. Thank you.
Very interesting! Looking forward to learning more about your 3-6-9 aerial.
You should be working for Nasa.
I wish I had the time to fully watch all these videos. Im sure if I watched them all I'd be making 90k a year within two years instead of my 50k
actually maybe not im not a very focused person.
Hey Paul, how come 75 Ohm and not 52 Ohm ? Are you using a balun ?
Ricky from IBM, Ret K4VMS
Hi Rickey, no balun. 75 Ohm coax for multiple reasons, which, when I'm finished with this antenna, I will explain in more detail.
@@MrCarlsonsLab OK Paul, I’ll wait for the next installment of your antenna project. Antennas are of great interest of mine too.
Ricky
Please attach your antenna to one of those old vacuum tube radios you restored and try AM and SW with it
That will happen soon.
Nice video, thank you :)
Paul, I am so envious of you! Well done, you earned the bragging rights!
Thats some signal, I just tried both my longwire & off centre dipole, about 0.15V was the best I could get, forget LED's
So awesome that Mr. C uses classic vintage and custom built equipment.
Back around 1958-'59, Popular Electonics (or maybe Electronics Illustrated) had a do-it-yourself project for an entirely antenna-powered receiver/amplifier. Tuned to a strong local station, it generated enough voltage to power a transistor amplifier. Then a second tuned circuit could select a different station and be heard louder thru the amplifier.
Hey... Made me think of the STS-75 Tether incident.. CHEERS! 🔥❤🔥
Thanks for what you’re doing! Education and entertainment, all in one. I was a little concerned to see your antenna has an independent ground. When a lightning bolt is close, the difference in ground potential, given their proximity to the strike, can be hundreds of volts or more, with a lot of current behind it. Building codes require all grounds be bonded for this reason. I was also surprised to see the 369 antenna doesn’t use high impedance balanced line. Why is that?
7 volts from the air? Was that during the day? How many amps? Can you power anything effective other than a few LEDs?
I just love your videos. Particularly your great attention to detail.
Thank you very much!
I definitely cant light LED's with my G5RV or my 80, 40, 20 Fan dipole.. I tired Blue green and white LED's.
Same theory of a Tesla Energy generator. I did that myself years ago and was able to charge my cell phone for free. Just picking up earth and sun radiation and transforms it into electrical current. Great antenna though.
OK, so when you do get into the explanation of this antenna, I'd REALLY like to hear the hows/whys of what led you to this particular design and even more importantly-how it works :)
Sorry this video had to end! This was great!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Genuine question: are these machines still practical or just hobby?
1Hz modulated noise/static sounds like an army marching. Might use it for some industrial music project :)
Absolutely fascinating Paul ! Another great video from you. Thank you.
It's weird to think of the "energy" being coupled between the random coil and the radio is actually extremely low energy photons coming out of that little random coil then inducing electrical "movement" inside the radio's antenna ferrite coil.
Your 3- 6- 9 antenna seems to work extremely well ! I need one !!
Norm KC1VY
Why do you call it the 3-6-9 antenna?
Edit: I asked this not just out of curiosity, but because there were 368 comments so far, and this would be the 369th comment on this video
A few years ago Paul demonstrated a transmitter he built and how energy from that could be monitored (seen and measured) on another receiving antenna as such. That's what purposed my subscribing to this channel. Notwithstanding, I'd like to see Tesla's demonstration of wireless electrical transmission duplicated, specifically with his "hair pin" circuit, and how he achieved lighting "carbon button" single wire lamps he patented. Though I recommended it previously, I again reference "Secrets of the Cold War Technology "as a starting point for the curious minded. (Note please: The actual source for that work see Dollard.)
I did a similar experiment on my 160 meter Inverted-L antenna. I live in the middle of three 5KW AM broadcast stations. Each are about 2.5 miles from me. Connecting a full wave diode bridge across the antenna terminals I read 36 volts. Shorted I get 8 ma. Lights an LED very bright! Connecting a frequency selective level meter I measure +10 DBm on two of the three and a little less on the third.
Hi Paul, this looks like a very interresting antenna system. I sure will try to build something like this, next year. Now its soon october and the winter will come soon here in Norway.....unfortunately. How is the noise level on this antenna? Dipols and other hamradio antennas have a tendens to pick up alot of noise from neighbours, like SMpowersupplies, led bulbs and so on. Take care, love your videos. 73 LB5JG
11:08 - I'm guessing if you attached your 3-6-9 antenna directly to that transistor radio, it would overload the input stage?
Absolutely.
Could you explain how the antennas on the Raspberry Pi work?
And the Ceramic antennas on the ExpressLRS too. They're ultra tiny.
How can these antennas be so tiny? How do they work?
I wish I could fully understand I have had a couple of serious head trauma. So I am having some trouble understanding the principles involved. But I greatly enjoy watching your work.
(02:04) Paul, would that be functioning as a "sort of" BFO using the PLL error as an input from the two carriers?
I guess it's more of a balanced modulator, outputting the error signal as noise, from the LO and the received Fc.
If you'll use a product called NP-1, instead of standard silicone.
You'll find that it makes a mess to apply it to anything without getting it on everything else.
But the beauty of this product, is that it's far superior to what you used, and that applies to the ones they claim to last the 30 years they say they warranty it.
Reason being, is silicone dries out completely, and even shrinks.
As its shrinking, its pulling away from the surface that you want sealed.
Where as NP-1, is as close to butyal rubber, which has been removed from the market, because of the chemicals it's made up from.
But it and the NP-1, only make a skin outer coating, while the core stays in its semi liquid state, and this expands, and contracts with whatever material it's bonded to.
That way, in a couple of years or less you won't have any leaks, as you will from your standard silicone caulking.
That and since it's a rubberized substance, you get isolating properties from it as well.
So other than needing some type of protective disposal clothing whenever you're applying this product, it's far superior to the highest grade silicone sealant on the market.
Hopefully this will be helpful to you in the future, and heed the warnings about messy, and what it takes to clean up afterwards.
But if you take your time, use a masking tape to protect whatever you want to seal, and wear whatever type of gloves you are comfortable in, then shouldn't be a problem, unless of course your just one of those that no matter how careful you are, you end up with more on you than anywhere else.
Thanks Paul. that's an awesome experiment for the antenna efficiency. the ground magic is under considered in electricity/electronics schools, at least in my humble experience.
Very interesting. Cant wait till you show us more.
Very interested in the effects of the inductively coupled antenna segments, and hoping you do some experiments specifically on them.
Hocus Pocus! Truly magical! Does the cap receive and hold a charge at all when you perform this Ajji Majji la Tarajji?
I would like you to measure the impedance between your antenna ground and your facility ground. I think you will find it's not as much as you thought. At RF anyhow. Interesting topic thank you.
😃😄😁😆😅 5 Smiles.
You remind me of NIKOLA TESLA ! FREE ENERGY ! What he tried to do all his life !
Nice WWVC Rx. Nice Variable RF coupling transformer demo!
Just curious - does this have any relationship to Nikola Tesla's 3-6-9 Code, or is it purely coincidence?
1hz sounds like the tone from the Vega signal in the movie "Contact"
Actually 3 thumbs up. You are doing some of the things i did when i was 15. Memory lane 😁 with some new stuff!
And they say that Tesla was a fool.
Here's the demonstration that receiving free energy is possible.
Next experiment, a toaster oven.
You could step that 7.5 voltage up, and possibly power your whole house with the stepped up voltage or possibly an entire city without any type of external fissile fuel generator!
Very interesting video, like always ! But I have a question. How do You protect the antenna against flashstrikes from a thunderstorm ?? Can You earth the antenna somewhere ? When I was a child, we had also a longwireantenna and my grandpa every evening went outside to this antennaswich to earth this long wire to protect it from flashes. Such a long and high antenna is not safe against this high voltages if it happens !