Base Antenna's and lightning

[BallWrecker]

I was just wondering if any you guys had your base antenna's hit by lightning while talking on the radio. And my next question, What happened to ya ? or what would happen to you??

[80 meter man]

You don't want to go there! If there's lightning in the area un-plug your coax and get out of the shack. I don't think you'll get an answer to your question because if anyone did get a direct hit to there antenna while they were holding the mic there not around anymore to tell about it. There's no such thing as protection from a direct strike. You can have all the grounding and lightning arrestors you want if you get a direct strike kiss your radios goodbye and anybody that might be talking on them at the time!!

[vw-porsche]

I still remember 15 years ago when a really bad storm came through town. I unplugged the coax from the radio and put it back in the closet but my antenna never got struck. It was on old 5/8 ground plane with top hat that was 70-75 feet at the top. The lightning struck a telephone pole about 200 feet away that had a transistor a few feet down from the top. I have no idea why my antenna didn't get struck as it was the tallest thing in about an 1/8th mile area and even the pole that was struck was lower than some trees and other poles.

I honestly didn't know what to do if it got struck, I was very worried about it starting a fire though. What does happen when an antenna gets hit and I would assume the strike would continue down the coax.

rob

[Circuit Breaker]

I still remember 15 years ago when a really bad storm came through town. I unplugged the coax from the radio and put it back in the closet but my antenna never got struck. It was on old 5/8 ground plane with top hat that was 70-75 feet at the top. The lightning struck a telephone pole about 200 feet away that had a transistor a few feet down from the top. I have no idea why my antenna didn't get struck as it was the tallest thing in about an 1/8th mile area and even the pole that was struck was lower than some trees and other poles.

I honestly didn't know what to do if it got struck, I was very worried about it starting a fire though. What does happen when an antenna gets hit and I would assume the strike would continue down the coax.

rob

Whether an object is the tallest structure around isn't the whole equation. Electricity takes the easiest path to ground. So, you could have a 102" stainless steel whip mounted on the ground in your backyard and take a direct hit, while the cell tower down the road didn't get hit at all. I have a Fluidmotion BigIR vertical ground mounted in the backyard. Whenever the radio isn't in use, I retract the element all the way. However, that didn't save me. Lightning still hit something, although I'm not sure what. All I know is that the stepper motor in the antenna didn't work anymore, the control box was fried, there's a mark on the side of the radio where electricity arched from the controller to the radio. The router for the computers was fried and the phone and cable system were both knocked out until I could get Verizon out here to fix it. Now, whenever I'm not using the radio, I retract the antenna AND disconnect all the cables.

[BallWrecker]

Well at least u didnt get zapped circuit breaker.. I wonder if thats how Sparkys got their name??? I always crazy questions to people but i still never would be on a base in storm. My house gets hit without any antennas on the roof cant imagine something another 30-40 feet in the air. I think id go sit in my truck until storm was over lol..