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near mist

Cheech

Active Member
Apr 6, 2005
716
6
28
35
Medina county Ohio
Last night we had one heck of a storm roll threw town. The storm started about 9 and went till about 2 Am. I had my radio on as I do every night and ended up falling asleep at about 9:30 even though I did not want to. Well I woke up to hear the friends talking on the chanel. There was alot of static burst going on so I asked if it was storming becouse my radio is in the basement. My friends told me it was geting crazy so I decided to turn the radio off and disconect the antenna. After that I walked up stairs to see what was up and look out the window. Right as soon I as I turned away there was a bang louder than anything I have heard and lightning hit right outside my house. I jumped back and the first thing that came to mind was the antron I was almost sure it was gone becouse of how close the lightning was. It sounded like it came from behind the house to and the the antenna is back there. So I decided to grab a flashlight and take a look for the worst but then it hit again so I waited for a second then went to go check and thank God that thing was still in one piece!! :D :eek: My luck is bad like that so I got lucky! I have heard the things lightning does to antrons and it makes me cringe becouse I hate fiber glass!!! Its also good nothing and no one got hurt!
 

Every time we get a thunder storm, I always disconnect the coax. And after reading your post made me think about my setup, an imax 2000 on a 10 foot pipe, attached to a 40 foot tower, all as far as I can figure, grounded properly. But my question is about grounds, has anyone actually had a direct strike on their antenna,that it actually destroyed the antenna, and, had the coax connected to the radio and had no damage to the radio. I cannot see any type of grounding that would stop over a million volts from damaging your radio. We all try to ground our station by reading about proper grounding, but, will it actually stop a direct strike from getting to your transceiver? Just curious.
 
Yes I have.In my opinion you cant have to many grounds and dont skimp on the size.The lightning will seek the best path to ground.The more appealing your ground system is to lightning the better.I have 48 ground rods on my property.
 
Thanks man.I am in the path.But it wont be hurricane strength this far inland.We are expecting tons of rain though.Hopefully no tornados.
I am off I 59 between I 20 and I 30.
73s
 
I have seen 2 A-99's and 1 Imax 2000 after a direct
hit from lightning.
Not a pretty sight. Shattered fiberglass all over the
place and height is reduced to 12" to a few feet .
Antenna looks like shredded wheat.
Most of the time fiberglass antennas can not pass
the high amounts of electric energy that's produced
by lightning strikes.
 
I was afraid I was going to see something like that :shock: But I do think I know what got hit becouse a huge tree in a buisness parking lot down the street from me went missing :shock: and it is one of the highest points in town that way.
 
I was afraid I was going to see something like that :shock: But I do think I know what got hit becouse a huge tree in a buisness parking lot down the street from me went missing :shock: and it is one of the highest points in town that way.
 

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