CB Gods hate me .... Ebay LMR 400 is no good?

[prcguy]

Bottom line on using a separate ground rod near an antennae that is not bonded to the main house ground is, be prepared for much more damage and ruined electronics in the house if you get a lightning strike. A difference in ground potential between different parts of the house is probably more responsible for damage than not.

Right now if the house gets hit the AC mains and associated ground will be at a close potential to each other and will raise above the surrounding ground by potentially thousands of volts during the strike, but it may not be that bad between ground and the AC mains. With a separate ground rod at the antenna near the radio you can easily have thousands of volts between the AC mains fed from the house and the distant ground rod, so say goodbye to anything connected to that.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Yeah; Well after 16 years in this house, I had a wake up call a year and a half ago from a lighting strike that hit my sprinkler system (I witnessed the strike out the window) and found its way into my garage (Where the Rainbird timer blew up) which is on the other side of the house from the utility ground. I built some custom surge protection for the timer, but I really need to extend the bonding system to that far side of the house to be sure. It will also be an expensive and labor intensive PITA but provide some added security, including some roof terminals. I had a couple thousand dollars worth of damage, but no radios hurt.

 

[niceguy71]

Yeah; Well after 16 years in this house, I had a wake up call a year and a half ago from a lighting strike that hit my sprinkler system (I witnessed the strike out the window) and found its way into my garage (Where the Rainbird timer blew up) which is on the other side of the house from the utility ground. I built some custom surge protection for the timer, but I really need to extend the bonding system to that far side of the house to be sure. It will also be an expensive and labor intensive PITA but provide some added security, including some roof terminals. I had a couple thousand dollars worth of damage, but no radios hurt.

so it didn't hit your antenna or mast???? guess you were lucky.... I had one in July 2016 and I was also by the window.. it was blinding! and the boom was deafening.... it split a 130 foot tree down the middle jumped 5 or 6 feet to my metal fence, ran a 100 feet up the top of the fence rails jumps off and went 8 feet to a sprinkler box... blew the cover 20 feet off and followed those ity bity wires to my sprinkler control / timer box burned that out and got a few more electronics too... the sprinkler box was between my house and fence so the sprinkler box was 8 to 10 feet from the house.... up against that side of the house was my 50 inch TV ... that also got hit... living without TV was terrible so I went out and in 2016 paid $1200 for a new one... read the TV online forums and they said two parts typically burn out from a strike.. I sent for the two parts and got my old TV running as a spare now..... so it wasn't terrible... now that my CB mast is above the roof ... we will see... I'm hoping all the main ball of energy will go into the ground rod. I've talked to a few CB guys that had their antenna's up for decades without a ground rod!!!!! and they tell me I'm worrying too much... time will tell

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

It was bright white light right outside my window. Damaged my computer network and ethernet interfaces. The surge backfed into the electrical panel and damaged a TV and other stuff. several GFCI's shorted failed (no protection) Pool light cable is still damaged. . I still have a zone that isn't working in my sprinkler system. I suspect the cable is burned where it turns to enter the house. It has been a rough couple years doing physical work, so not in a hurry to dig up that cable, but I must by next season. I probably should have involved insurance, but they bought me a pricey roof 4 years ago,