Hidden Damage to 450-ohm Balanced Line

Recently I installed new coax cable from my rig to the outdoor surge protector on the back of my garage, where the balanced feed line terminates from my multi-band dipole. This is the latest evolution of the dipole from its initial design based on pages 7 - 10 of the article Choosing the Correct Balun.  The current configuration has adopted some characteristics of a G5RV design.

While handling the 450-ohm window line I noticed that a short (1.25") section of one side of the line was able to bend at a much sharper angle than other parts of the line. Since this was part of the length I cut off, I examined it more closely by slicing away some of the insulation. The photo below shows what I saw.

Click to enlarge

It appeared that one strand of the stranded wire was still connected. I can't tell if this localized damage relates to the lightning strike in 2016 or the recent lightning strike to a nearby tree or high-power operation on 40 m or a combination of these events.

I am continuing to use and modify this antenna.

73,
John