referring now more particularly to fig3 which relates to an embodiment of the invention where the lightning retardant cable is a communication cable , there is provided antenna signal transmission and grounding system 24 for grounding antenna 10 . as previously indicated , antenna 10 may also be a satellite dish or another device for receiving signals from the air . system 24 includes lightning retardant cable 26 , which is the cable of the subject invention and will be described in more detail below . lightning retardant cable 26 is attached to antenna 10 at connector lead box 28 . cable 26 is also connected to standard antenna discharge unit 30 . a typical antenna discharge unit 30 is a tru spec commercially available from c z labs . a coaxial cable 32 is connected to the discharge unit 30 and to electronic equipment ( not shown ). a ground wire 34 connects the antenna discharge unit 30 to ground clamps 36 and 38 . ground clamp 38 is , in turn , connected to ground rod 39 . in addition , the antenna mast 40 is connected to ground clamp 38 through ground wire 42 . fig2 is similar to fig3 but illustrates some of the details of cable 26 . in the communication cable embodiment of this invention , cable 26 is preferably a coaxial cable , although , cable 26 could be a fiber optic cable or twin lead cable . a communication cable must include at least one signal conductor . in the preferred communication cable embodiment of this invention , however , cable 26 is a coaxial cable . fig2 illustrates the center conductor 44 . center conductor 44 is the signal conductor and is connected to terminal box 46 attached to the mast of the antenna 10 . signal conductor 44 is connected through antenna discharge unit 30 to coaxial cable 32 . spiraled choke conductor 56 surrounds signal conductor 44 and is connected to antenna discharge unit 30 which , in turn , is connected to ground conductor 34 . cable 26 will be discussed in more detail below . fig4 shows lightning retardant cable 26 having signal center conductor 44 which is surrounded by foam dielectric 50 . a standard coaxial cable shield 52 surrounds the dielectric 50 . insulated jacket 54 surrounds shield 52 . a choke conductor 56 is wound about outer jacket 54 in a spiraled fashion . an overall outer insulated jacket may be placed over the cable to provide protection for the cable . the choke conductor 56 should be large enough to handle the high currents caused by lightning without melting . choke conductor 56 should be at least 17 gauge and preferably is 10 gauge . preferably the choke conductor is made of copper . if the choke conductor is made of a bundle of round copper wires , the bundle should be equivalent to at least 17 gauge wire or larger . referring now to fig2 if lightning strikes antenna 10 , the energy of that strike would normally be split , that is , one - half would follow ground wire 42 and the other half would follow cable 26 to ground rod 39 . however , since cable 26 forms an electrical choke due to spiraled choke conductor 56 , that is , conductor 56 actually chokes out the flow of current due to its high impedance to lightning current which has a very fast rise time , the majority of the surge follows ground wire 42 to ground and does not follow cable 26 to ground . one - half of the energy from the strike that would start down cable 26 after a lightning strike would quickly be cancelled out by the action of the choke . each time the choke conductor 56 is twisted around the cable , it causes the electric field generated by the lightning to interact upon itself , thus blocking the flow of current . as with any electrical discharge , there is an electric field , as well as a magnetic field at right angles to the electric field . lightning causes a tremendously large magnetic field due to the huge discharge of electric current . fig5 shows an alternative embodiment of the lightning retardant cable of the subject invention which includes a special shield to block the magnetic component of the lightning discharge , thus acting as a faraday cage . in fig5 there is provided a center signal conductor 44 , dielectric 50 , standard coaxial cable shield 52 and coaxial cable jacket 54 . a substantially flat spiraled wrapped shield 58 is wound over the top of coaxial cable jacket 54 . as shown by a cross section of the spiraled shield 58 in fig8 the shield includes a conductive top metal portion 60 which is insulated by plastic insulation 62 on the bottom . thus the shield may be spiraled upon itself without causing an electrical short . metal portion 60 of shield 58 is preferably made of aluminum or copper . shield 58 is commercially available . choke conductor 56 is spiraled over the top of shield 58 in the opposite direction to the spiral of shield 58 . preferably , both shield 58 and choke conductor 56 are spiraled at 45 ° angles with respect to signal conductor 44 . thus the shield and the choke conductor cross at 90 ° angles . alternatively , the spirals for both the choke conductor and the shield could be adjusted to various angles to maximize inductance depending on the desired effect . in the embodiment of fig5 choke conductor 56 is in electrical contact with the metallic portion 60 of shield 58 . however , in the embodiment of fig6 an insulated jacket 64 is provided between spiraled shield 58 and choke conductor 56 and a small drain wire 61 is placed in contact with shield 58 between shield 58 and jacket 64 . the drain wire 61 enables one to conveniently terminate the shield . in the design shown in fig5 through 8 , both electric and magnetic fields are addressed . the electric field is addressed by the spiraled choke conductor 56 which , as indicated above , functions as an electrical choke . the magnetic field is addressed by the spiraled shield 58 , which acts as a faraday cage . also , the spiraled shield acts as a flat choke in the opposite direction of the spiraled electrical choke 56 , thus enhancing the cancellation effect . therefore , shield 58 has two functions . as indicated above , preferably , the shield 58 is preferably at a 45 ° angle with respect to center transmission signal conductor 44 and is spiraled in counterclockwise wrap . the choke conductor 56 is preferably also at a 45 ° angle with respect to center conductor 44 , but is spiraled in the opposite direction around the shield 58 , i . e ., clockwise . the directions in which the choke conductor and signal conductor are wound could be reversed . the result is a 90 ° angle between the magnetic shield and the electric choke . the choke conductor 56 could be in the form of a second shield . referring now more particularly to fig7 for ease of installation , a ground wire 66 may be made as a component of the cable 26 . ground wire 66 is attached to the outer jacket 65 of the cable and is embedded in plastic which forms part of the extruded jacket 65 . the ground wire 66 runs the length of the cable . the ground wire is set apart from the main cable so that it may easily be detached and attached to a grounding rod . the cable shown in fig5 has been tested in the laboratory and in the field . the results show a substantial improvement over the prior art . the detailed description above primarily discusses communication cable applications of the invention . fig9 shows a lightning retardant cable 69 of the subject invention for power applications . internal conductor 70 and 72 are power conducts which are normally heavier gauge than communication conductions . often a gravel conductor ( not shown ) is placed adjacent to the power conductors . conductors 70 and 72 are covered by insulated jacket 74 . choke conductor 56 is spiraled about jacket 74 in the same fashion as shown and described in reference to fig4 . in addition , the shield arrangement shown in fig5 and 7 may also be used in power cable applications . the choke conductor 56 can be insulated with insulation so that it is not in electrical contact with shield 58 . this insulation will electrically isolate the choke conductor 56 from shield 58 so that one may separate the electrical and magnetic fields . this will allow one to adjust the two windings , i . e ., the shield and the choke , separately for maximum inductance . fig1 shows a cross view of an insulated choke conductor . item 56 is the choke conductor and item 76 is an insulative jacket . it may become necessary , depending upon the application , that the choke conductor &# 39 ; s insulative jacket 76 be slightly conductive . a compound , such as carbon , can be added to the insulation to increase this conductivity , i . e ., to make the insulation semi - conductive . lightning will usually follow the path of least resistance or least inductance to ground . every straight wire has an inductance . to minimize the inductance , you can actually use two coils wound opposite of each other . the fields of these two coils will cancel out each other and result in “ 0 ” induction . in fig1 , item 78 illustrates an inductive meter measuring the inductance of a straight wire 77 . in fig1 , items 79 and 80 illustrate inductors . if the second inductor 80 is wound opposite inductor 79 , as shown by 81 in fig1 a , and the two are electrically connected at both ends 82 , then the inductance should read “ 0 ”, as illustrated by meter 78 in fig1 b . certain applications of lightning retardant cable may be enhanced if only one end of the cable has the choke 56 connected or grounded to shield 58 . this allows the shield to function as a faraday cage shielding the inner coax or wires from the magnetic fields of any induced energy . fig1 illustrates this construction . in this illustration , choke 56 and shield 58 are in electrical contact at one end of the cable only . this can be accomplished by winding the choke 56 around shield 58 so that they are in mechanical and electrical contact , as illustrated in fig1 . fig1 shows a cross view of cable 65 . item 58 is the spiral shield wrapped so that there is 100 % full overlapping coverage . choke 56 is stripped of insulation and wrapped around shield 58 so that it is in mechanical and electrical contact . referring now more particularly to fig1 , there is provided insulated cable 84 including conductor 86 and an insulation layer 88 . cable 84 is received within conduit 90 which may be a typical plastic extruded conduit . insulated shield 92 is wound about the outside of conduit 90 and the uninsulated side of shield 92 makes contact with the outer surface of plastic conduit 90 . choke conductor 94 is wound about conduit 90 in the opposite direction to shield 92 . preferably , the choke conductor and shield 92 cross one another in an angle of 90 °. the choke conductor may or may not be insulated . if the choke conductor is uninsulated , it should make contact with the insulated side of shield 92 for the entire length of the cable , except at the far ends . the far end of the choke conductor is electrically connected to the shield conductor by a connection device , such as bolt 93 , at one end and by a connection device , such as bolt 95 , at the other end . referring now more particularly to fig1 , a specially designed insulated shield may be used to reduce arcing problems , namely , insulated shield 96 . insulated shield 96 includes flat conductor 98 which is insulated by insulation 100 . insulation 100 extends beyond edge 102 of the shield so as to form an expanded section 104 of the insulation . this enables overlap 106 between adjacent turns of the shield , as indicated in fig1 , so as to reduce the probability of arcing between adjacent turns of the shield . this expanded insulation could be placed on top of the shield , depending on how it is wrapped . in addition , the insulation material 100 may not be attached at all to the metal portion of the shield 96 , but it may be a separate piece of insulation applied to the cable during the manufacturing process between the windings of the shield . in many situations , the choke conductor is simply a # 10 or # 12 round wire . the size of the wire was chosen since it meets usual national electric code requirements for grounding and has been shown to be large enough to handle direct lightning hits without burning through . a large wire wrapped around a cable alters the normally smooth round appearance , resulting in a so - called spiral hump on the cable due to the outer choke conductor &# 39 ; s size . in practices , spiral hump could be a problem if the cable is pulled through a conduit with other cables since it would tend to cause binding on the spiral hump as it slides over the cables or joints in the conduit . this can be solved or improved upon by using a different shape of choke conductor wire , such as a so - called flat wire which , in reality , is substantially in a rectangular shape , as illustrated in fig1 - 21 . fig1 shows substantially rectangular shaped choke conductor 108 which has been insulated by insulation 110 . however , because a rectangular shaped conductor includes sharp edges 112 , it is preferred that edges 112 be rounded , as shown in fig1 . fig2 shows the substantially rectangular shaped rounded edge conductor being insulated by insulation 114 . as shown in fig2 , the substantially rectangular shaped conductor 111 or an insulated flat conductor , shown in fig1 , will not cause this spiraled hump , but will present a smooth surface outer jacket cable . the lightning retardant cable discussed above preferably includes two chokes , one in the form of a so - called choke conductor , and the other in the form of a spiraled shield magnetically opposite , but having substantially identical inductances . the shield and the choke conductor are normally terminated at each end , as referred to above . various techniques may be used to terminate the shield to the choke conductor . one technique is illustrated in fig2 which shows the uninsulated portions 116 and 118 of choke 120 being placed in contact with uninsulated portion 122 of shield 124 . the insulation of the shield is stripped and if the choke conductor is insulated , its insulation is also stripped , so as to make electrical contact with one another . when energize the two opposing coils &# 39 ; magnetic fields cancel because they are oppositely wound , therefore the current does not flow down the coils outside the cable . when manufacturing the cable , the shield is normally wound first . the flat shield is usually , but not always , one inch in width . the electrical induction of the flat choke can be measured with an induction meter or an impedance bridge . the choke conductor or drain wire , which is usually a round configuration , but , as stated above , could be a substantially rectangular configuration , is a solid wire due to its physical characteristics . if it is wrapped at a 45 ° angle opposite to the shield , its electrical characteristics , i . e ., its inductance will be slightly different . in order for the lightning retardant cable to achieve maximum performance , the two coiled inductors should have substantially the same inductance , as measured by an impedance bridge . this can be accomplished by adjusting the number of turns of the drain wire if the shield turns are fixed . once the choke conductor is applied , it can be tuned to the shield &# 39 ; s inductance by wrapping extra turns at one end of the cable or both ends until the inductance is the same . from the foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the invention , it will be apparent that many modifications may be made therein . it will be understood , however , that the embodiments of the invention are exemplifications of the invention only and that the invention is not limited thereto . it is to be understood therefore that it is intended in the appended claims to cover all modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention .