This is a basic electronics question, but everything I find on google goes into tons of detail of how exactly a schottky is constructed and it's characteristics, but I can't find straight up practical application examples for it.

I've got 2 things I'm trying to solve, and I think a schotty may be a solution for them both; but I'm not sure how exactly it would be implemented...

1) Surge / spike protection. I've got a radio receiver that will operate in an area that experiences a high current EMP spike as the attached hardware activates. The spike induces between 2 and 15 volts in an open wire on a scope. I'm a bit concerned that the EMP could be coupled into the antenna and result in a voltage spike into the radio receiver and burn it out. We've tested it to the extreme (lots and lots of test spikes) and it keeps working fine, but I'd feel much better knowing I've done the "right" thing in preventing this. I think a schottky could be used to direct a high voltage spike (maybe anything more than 1 to 2 volts) directly into the ground plane. I also think a zener could be used? Whatever it is, it would have to be really fast acting as the spike is really short - maybe 100nS.

2) Polarity protection. Assume my circuit is all complete with a voltage regulator, pic, and varous components. It's powered from a single battery cell, and I want to add reverse polartiy proection (if the user puts the batt in backward). I put a batt in backward and it seems fine but again, I'd like to add some intentional protection for this.

Specific help or links to example schematics much appreciated. If I could just see how these things are used I think I could figure out how to use them for my application.

Thanks!