Established practice demands that all ground electrodes be bonded together with heavy conductors. What protection does this provide in case of a lightning strike?

When a lightning strike occurs nearby, immense currents flow through the earth, creating massive voltage spikes across different ground points. If your station's ground electrodes are not bonded together, a lightning surge can raise the voltage of one piece of equipment thousands of volts higher than another interconnected piece. Bonding all ground electrodes together with heavy conductors ensures that all equipment rises and falls in electrical potential simultaneously. Because there is no voltage difference between the devices, dangerous currents won't flow through your patch cables and destroy your radios.