Lightning risk

[K3MRI]

When lightning strikes a home antenna, several things can happen.

1. Damage to the antenna: The immediate and most obvious effect is that the intense energy from the lightning can physically damage or destroy the antenna.
2. Damage to connected devices: Lightning strikes can generate a significant electrical surge. If the antenna is connected to electronic devices in the house, such as a television or radio, the surge can travel through the wiring and damage or destroy these devices. It can also potentially damage other connected devices or appliances if it gets into the home's electrical system.
3. Fire hazard: The intense heat generated by a lightning strike can ignite nearby flammable materials and potentially start a fire.
4. Electromagnetic pulse: The lightning strike can produce a brief but intense electromagnetic pulse (EMP), which can damage sensitive electronics.
5. Potential injury to people: If someone is near the antenna or using a device connected to it at the time of the strike, they could be injured by the electrical surge or by flying debris if the antenna is destroyed.

For these reasons, it's essential to have proper grounding and lightning protection measures in place for antennas and other structures that are likely to attract lightning.

As for unplugging gear…

Yes, lightning can indeed damage a radio or appliance even if it is turned off. The extremely high voltage of a lightning strike can create a surge of electricity that travels through electrical wiring. Even if a device is switched off, the surge can still reach it through the power lines and cause damage. 

This is why it's often recommended to unplug electronics and appliances during a severe lightning storm. Being switched off doesn't disconnect them from the power line, but unplugging them does. For extra protection, people can also use surge protectors which are designed to absorb the excess voltage and prevent it from reaching connected devices.

How well protected are you?

 

 

[KD3Y]

I've never had a direct lightning strike, but Ive had it hit a tree in the yard once.   I was out in the back yard prior to the storm taking my portable mast down when it struck.  I had a 16 foot aluminium mast in my hand with a copper J-pole on top.  The lightning hit a pine tree about 50 feet away, blew the top out of the pine tree and set it on fire.  My hair was standing up.   I called 9-1-1 and the FD came and put the tree fire out.

My buddy who lives a few blocks away had lightning strike his 2-meter antenna that was mounted on a mast beside his house.  It blew fiberglass pieces in the yards of the houses three doors down.

 

[W3TDH]

5&1/2 decades ago my mother was on the phone in our home in Derry New Hampshire. There was a tremendous boom. The wall telephone flew across the room and buried itself into the lath and plaster wall. Mom sat there stunned for a minute and then realized that she was still holding the handset. She threw that away from herself. I observed that since the phone was no longer attached to the phone wires there was no more danger. The look she gave me made me find somewhere else to be.

Tom W3TDH

[K3MRI]

12 hours ago, W3TDH said:

5&1/2 decades ago my mother was on the phone in our home in Derry New Hampshire. There was a tremendous boom. The wall telephone flew across the room and buried itself into the lath and plaster wall. Mom sat there stunned for a minute and then realized that she was still holding the handset. She threw that away from herself. I observed that since the phone was no longer attached to the phone wires there was no more danger. The look she gave me made me find somewhere else to be.

Tom W3TDH

In reading this account, Tom, I realize that I need to add a WOW emoji. None of the ones in my current slide out captures one's natural reaction to the story. 😲

How long before she ever used a phone again?

The closest I know of a similar event was a fellow officer cadet during boot camp who was using her hair dryer in the barracks in the middle of a thunderstorm. Lightning struck and her dryer blew apart. She actually suffered some scrapes and burns. She was alone in the WC at the time but we heard it throughout the building, it was loud.

Sorry, but I can still picture your mom's stunned face as the phone flew across the room!!!

[W3TDH]

On 7/23/2023 at 5:25 AM, K3MRI said:

In reading this account, Tom, I realize that I need to add a WOW emoji. None of the ones in my current slide out captures one's natural reaction to the story. 😲

How long before she ever used a phone again?

The closest I know of a similar event was a fellow officer cadet during boot camp who was using her hair dryer in the barracks in the middle of a thunderstorm. Lightning struck and her dryer blew apart. She actually suffered some scrapes and burns. She was alone in the WC at the time but we heard it throughout the building, it was loud.

Sorry, but I can still picture your mom's stunned face as the phone flew across the room!!!

I heard my Dad quietly say to my mom "Hon Don't use the phone during a thunderstorm." After that  every time it thundered my mom would stay away from the telephone by going into a different room. She would also grab a towel and order anyone in the bath or shower out of the bathroom NOW! She wasn't going to give Thor another shot at her if she could help it.

What then happened is that my Dad, who was a plumber and believed nearly everything could be solved with a little more solder, tore out all the galvanized pipe that he could get to in the basement and installed all copper. He used the copper cold water pipe to bond everything electric together and that included the telephone company's lightning protector and line fuse block. He pulled the telephone ground rod out without much effort at all. It was 3 feet long! That's how I found out that my dad had started out in the crafts as an electrician. He switched to plumbing when he found out that the plumbers union had a better wage scale than electrical workers did.

He brought home a drive in well point and he, my brother, and I took turns using a sliding hammer to drive 20 foot of 2 inch pipe into the earth in the stony soil of southern New Hampshire. Once we got that thing driven my dad filled it with water and rigged one of the downspouts to keep it full. He connected that to the plumbing using copper pipe, solder to threaded adapters, and bronze bonding fittings. He added a jumper around the pressure tank to make the line to the water well part of the whole thing. 

Tom Horne