What to do with unplugged coax

[Road Runner]

Well it's storm season here on the plains, and I've been unplugging my coax when I'm not using my radio in the house, but I don't know what I should do with the unplugged coax. I've heard of folks tossing the end of the coax into a glass jar or bottle, but I've also heard of the jar shattering in the event of a direct lightning strike and sending small shards of glass in all directions, so I've not been doing that. What do you guys do with your coax when it's unplugged to keep lightning at bay?

[djrebel236]

i leave mine plugged in, i never unplug, i run my stuff during bad weather to help out with the locals...Dj

[Night Crawler]

If it's a bad storm I just unplug it and put it out the window.

[209 first class]

i hang mine out the window too. i have a little screweye and piece of string to tie it. i figure if it gets struck and flashes, at least its outside the house which will be hopefully wet from rain. make sure the metal end is not touching the house, as water is conductive. also, if you have a rotor, same rules should apply to the rotor cable. 2zero9

[slydog]

Well it's storm season here on the plains, and I've been unplugging my coax when I'm not using my radio in the house, but I don't know what I should do with the unplugged coax. I've heard of folks tossing the end of the coax into a glass jar or bottle, but I've also heard of the jar shattering in the event of a direct lightning strike and sending small shards of glass in all directions, so I've not been doing that. What do you guys do with your coax when it's unplugged to keep lightning at bay?

I grab the first mexican illegal immigrant I can find and pay him $5 an hour to hold the end in his hand until the storms over........... or a successful strike.

[4 cycle]

I wouldn't pay him until he gets hit!!

[TX_Dj]

Lightning suppressor?

[Lost Sheep]

I put mine in an empty gallon jug of Jack Daniels, and have done that for a long time. I learned of this from an old timer who also learned of it from an OLDER timer..... My buddy said that he'd never had a direct hit, but people he knew have had strikes that used this method. So I am told, It didint damage anything, not even the jar.

What purpose the glass jar serves is a mystery to me, but I will continue to use it until I find that it doesnt work.
HEY, the old timer's word is good enough for me and if his father, the OLDER timer's word was good enough for him, I TRUST IT!! He even supplied me with the gallon jug.
Yall have a good day!

[4 cycle]

The glass jar is so you do not start a fire in your house if your antenna gets hit!!!!

[kg95]

The glass jar is so you do not start a fire in your house if your antenna gets hit!!!!

perhaps a thick glass jar or jug

I have heard of lightning strikes on the power main shattering incandescent light bulbs

they do make surge suppressors for some reason

[Lost Sheep]

The glass jar is so you do not start a fire in your house if your antenna gets hit!!!!

YEAH?!?! My question is, How on earth does a thin or thick glass jug or jar keep THOUSANDS of volts at bay? What electrical or physical quality does a glass jar posses that allows it to stop LIGHTNING????

[4 cycle]

I contains the strike in the jar so if you are hit the resulting ark will not ignite your rugs curtains or what ever !!!! Providing the glass is thick enough!!

[The_Bigfoot]

I say you just stick it in your mouth and sleep with it.


I guess if you wanted to get real fancy you could get you another length of coax, put one of those female/female bridges on it and ground the 2nd coax into the ground outside a window or something. When you unplug your coax, fix it to the connector and walah...

[Lost Sheep]

GOOD I-DEAR Big Foot!

[pipsqueek]

I use an old (not new) wide mouth milk bottle. The old ones are thicker. I have it wrapped with rubber splicing tape then scotch "33" tape. I keep a #4 lead from my station ground in the jar in the hope that any stray voltage might just take the low impedance path to ground.
Needless to say, during bad storms, the station is unplugged from everything including the ground, thereby isolating it from any chance of getting zorched.

The one time I had a direct hit, the bottom of the glass melted and immediately reformed and solidified. Looks funky now with carbon embedded in the glass. I also let the jar sit in a heavy ceramic flower pot bottom dish.

Since then I've taken other steps to avoid lightning strikes.
pip

[G-Golly Wally]

I put mine in a glass jar, a local here told me to do it and he's been doing it that way since the 70's

[slydog]

The glass jar is so you do not start a fire in your house if your antenna gets hit!!!!

YEAH?!?! My question is, How on earth does a thin or thick glass jug or jar keep THOUSANDS of volts at bay? What electrical or physical quality does a glass jar posses that allows it to stop LIGHTNING????

The glass jar deal is an old wives tale. A glass jar might be an insulator but not to 100,000+ volts of a lightning strike.
You may as well just put a bag over the end and put the coax outside if you can. If the antenna gets hit you'll be doing antenna work and replacing coax anyways.

[PONY EXPRESS]

What we do is we use a pl 258 barrel connector and coax is spliced together outside so I have a way of disconnecting outside .

We have ground rods driven in the ground that yes has a piece of coax hooked to it with shield and center conductor shorted all together with a couple small guy wire clamps not hose clamps clamps attached to the ground rod away from the foundation of the house . The short coax going to the ground rod has a pl 259 and a pl 258 that the other coax that would normally go inside now is detached and hooked directly to ground.When storm is over I hook it right back up.


I unscrew the coax going in the house into the short coax that has the ground rod attached outside.
I then keep that other coax as far away as possible from that ground rod

Glass jars not in my radio room I want to know I am doing my best to keep it all outside .

[Trouble]

I don't unplug but maybe connect it to a big ole 5 gallon dummy load? I dunno...

[Road Runner]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess I should just throw mine out the window when it's unplugged......................better than nothing. I still don't trust the glass jar thing. I'd rather keep it out of the house if at all possible.

[Slim Jim]

I plug mine up to an old JC Penny mobile unit I found in my Uncle's barn...I've seen lightning strikes on other radios before...they seemed to contain it fairly well; well enough to make me a believer, anyway.

[number 7]

i got a medal can i usually put mine in , might burn thru it if it gits hit but wont bust like glass could.

[Foxhunter]

Lightning strikes that hit sand actually CONVERT sand into glass. Anyone ever see the THICKNESS of old glass insulators on the poles along railroad tracks? They are very thick, yet meant to insulate much lower numbers than the typical lightning strike.

Sorry for the trivia / fact sheet but I couldn't resist. The first "accidental" electrocution (didn't have surge protector) was that of a University Professor trying to duplicate Ben Franklin's kite/key/lightning experiment only a month or two later and was instantly killed.

Did You Know? Florida ranks first in the nation for lightning, with an average of 100 thunderstorm days per year. The lightning capitol of the world is the West coast of Africa, with as many as 295 thunderstorm days per year.

Earths number of lightning strikes a day: 8 million. Your chances of being struck by lightning in the United States are 1 in 600,000. But your chances of being struck in Florida are higher simply due to the state being the lightning capital of the United States. Florida averages 70 to 100 thunderstorm days a year. Orlando has 80 to 90 days. Tropical Africa is the lightning capital of the world as more than 280 thunderstorm days occur at this location.

Number of thunderstorms occurring at any given moment: 2,000. Number of lightning strikes every second: 100. Number of lightning strikes a day: 8 million. Number of thunderstorms occurring in the United States a year: 100,000. Number of lightning strikes in the USA per year: 20 million.

How many volts and amps in a typical lightning flash? A typical lightning bolt contains: 1 billion volts and contains between 10,000 to 200,000 amperes of current. I don't think your coax is rated for that much output / input.

Alpha Delta Communications: makes the some of the best lightning and/or RF related products primarily for the Military / NSA / Emergency and Commercial Broadcasting (as well as Ham & CB) [Please login or register to view this link]

MFJ: would be a good second choice for that type of protection
[Please login or register to view this link]

I'd spend the extra $$ as an "insurance policy"----but I can't imagine "total" protection I'd still unplug the coax and the AC plug.

[pipsqueek]

Old wives tale...."my eye". Disbelieve it if you want, but the thick milk bottle DID if fact work here once. Got the melty bottle bottom to prove it. Now I use it wrapped with rubber and extra insulated bottom. I guess it does stand up to thousands of volts. Glass is a terrific dielectric and insulator.
Pips

[Foxhunter]

Old wives tale...."my eye". Disbelieve it if you want, but the thick milk bottle DID if fact work here once. Got the melty bottle bottom to prove it. Now I use it wrapped with rubber and extra insulated bottom. I guess it does stand up to thousands of volts. Glass is a terrific dielectric and insulator.
Pips

One lightning bolt: 8 BILLION Volts and 10,000 to 200,000 Amps is "average"