[ADXA] Antennas & lightning

[EJ Jones]

Have a good trip!

I disconnect everything when weather is in the area. That includes coaxes, rotor cables, any cables to control boxes, such as antenna, relays, or four square boxes. I’ve gone wireless on my Internet because I had problems of lightning getting in on the network cable.  Of course I disconnect all power plugs from the wall.

Some people even disconnect the ground from their radios

The ARRL grounding book is a great reference.

EJ

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________________________________
From: adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net <adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net> on behalf of J Ferguson via ADXA <adxa at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2025 10:22:50 AM
To: Jussi Eloranta <eloranta at aa6kj.hopto.org>
Cc: ADXA <adxa at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [ADXA] Antennas & lightning

Jussi,

Lighting is a fickle beast. The energy potential in lighting far exceeds the rated handling capability of polypahsers, and despite our best efforts to ground and control the path of a strike the risk of it finding it’s way to my equipment is too great.
I always disconnect my attendants and radios (when I am in a position to do so) to reduce the likelihood of a direct of nearby strike causing equipment damage. My antenna coax is place the open end in plastic lawn and garden waterproof extension cord covers when disconnected. This provides me (perhaps a false sense of security) with trying to make sure the antenna and coax being in a float state for the energy of a strike to travel. It also helps to keep me from having the coax accidentally being kicked or moved and creating a possible ground path.

What I use for covering the coax: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Twist-and-Seal-0-5-ft-Plastic-Cord-Organizer/1000132801

Sounds like your shack is outside your home, have you thought about setting up a remote disconnect system?

Others thought’s on this topic?

73,
J Ferguson
N5LKE

On Jul 13, 2025, at 9:58 AM, Jussi Eloranta <eloranta at aa6kj.hopto.org> wrote:

Hi,

The weather has been pretty rough at least here in the NE corner. Lightning on and off on almost all days. I have been running back and forth between the house and the shack disconnecting and reconnecting antennas & power. The weather forecasts have been pretty useless with these storms. They appear quickly and are gone quickly.

My question is as follows. With proper grounding and polyphasers on coaxes (+ surge protectors on power), do you guys disconnect antennas & power during storms? In CA lightning is rather rare and this was not an issue over there. I feel that here I have the radios disconnected most of the time! And my K4 died mysteriously during a recent storm with only the ground connected. It is possible that lightning can get in through the ground too... Fortunately Elecraft was pretty quick to fix it.

Jussi (aa6kj)

PS. I am headed to Finland to attend the annual SRAL summer meeting. Hopefully the weather is calmer there... Great to see some old friends over there.
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