Lightning Precautions

[Jason Foster]

I'd say, there is a big risk regarding a radio as long as it is connected to coax without a lighting arrester and/or being chassis grounded.

In 2004, only two days after my strike to the foot from lightning (yeah...lightning hurts like hell) I was again with Jeff G. and Chris C. and using an HT connected to a small 1/4 wave antenna on the chrysler's roof. We were just south of Abilene when a close strike hit in the field to the right (I think Chris as a video frame grab of that cg), and when it hit, my hand felt a jolt through the radio. Oddly enough, nothing happened to the radio (Chris's HT). The shock was about the same maybe a little more intense than a 110v household plug shock.

I'll bet quite a few chasers have felt the "buzz" from a decent cg shot. I figured with the two situations I encounters in one year, it's more common than one may think. But I've never seen a spark like Chuck (Edwards).

 

[James Hammett]

THere was one case back in the mid 90's when I was driving under a highly electricly active anvil. I had a mag-mount antenna on the roof, the other end was not connected to anything in the car. Every few seconds, a spark shot off of the end connector into the air.

I should try that sometime when there are a lot of CGs and not much else to hold my attention (like yesterday's setup). I used to get a popping sound from my old CB/weather radio when I was under an electrically charged portion of a storm. I wonder if that was actual arcing or some side-effect of static build-up. The radio did stop working eventually

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

...I was again with Jeff G. and Chris C. and using an HT connected to a small 1/4 wave antenna on the chrysler's roof. We were just south of Abilene when a close strike hit in the field to the right (I think Chris as a video frame grab of that cg...

Yup, Jason ... Above is the frame-grab! I think it was in Oklahoma near Altus on May 26 (it was an anticyclonic supercell).

Meh...lightning...no worries.

Above: May 17, 2004 near Russell, Kansas - Be afraid ... BANG!!

Above: Be VERY afraid! ... "I felt that one!"

BTW: Avoid "testing" depleted laptop batteries after the static field burns out the charging circiut on a Sony Vaio ;-)

 

[evan anderson]

This has often been a concern of mine since I often chase solo. I did witness a chase van (loaded with external antennae, radios, laptops, passengers, etc.) directly in front of me near Childress TX get struck in 2006. The passengers said they all jumped at once on the CG stroke but thankfully the only damage was a blown tire. Not sure what kind of grounding they had in their van but we all seemed lucky. I had a mag mount to my 2m HT in a rental on the 12v adapter so not sure how I would have fared had it struck 30 ft behind the van.