Ham Radio vs Lightning

[Robb]

This poor Ham operator discovered his antenna in shards after a direct lightning strike in Mississippi. It WAS an "S9v" vertical using ground radials and a balun. Fortunately, he had disconnected the coax from his rig before the strike. Unfortunately, he didn't unplug it from the wall socket. As we know, this is the proper way to deal with lightning in accordance with accepted practices.

The strike took out several items in his house as well. The operator itemized all of the damage done by this one event. He concluded that he wished he had unplugged more items from the house current at the end of this video.

But the antenna damage was total and the video interesting. Especially for those Hams on this forum that live in areas that see a lot of lighting. Perhaps some of you had similar experiences from home or with your mobile rigs. Sure would like to hear your encounters with lightning. Doesn't have to be Ham radio related.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suaMa1h8u2Q&feature=player_embedded

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

IIRC all those S9 antennas are is a wire suspended inside a telescoping fiberglass tube and fed with a matching transformer at the bottom. When it comes to verticals I never did like a series fed vertical and very much prefer shunt fed verticals. The series fed are easier to install and tune but require much more in the way of lightning protection to make them anywhere near safe IMHO.I saw enough series fed verticals in the broadcast business and saw what was required to make them handle lightning strikes. A shunt fed vertical can be solidly tied to ground at the base and the feedpoint is at ground potential to start off with, no static balls, no static discharge coils, nothing required at all other than the normal methods to protect any and all stations.

 

[bamacj]

I took a direct hit to my ar10. Nothing left but where it was mounted to the mast.It also hit my service entrance. Set the breaker pannel on fire along with my stove. Everything in the house that was plugged in was toast. If I hadent been home My house would have burned to the ground.