>   I've heard stories about lightning coming down the coax even when
>   the coax were disconnected from the radio.  A large sparks would
>   leave the connector to say a grounded wall outlet.  Could this be
>   true or just an old CB/Ham radio myth?  Take care.
>                                                    Alex...
No myth, Alex. If lightning should strike your antenna or tower (even a
near miss counts) it will find the shortest and easiest path to ground.
You *HOPE* it will be through your grounding system (the rods you pounded
out in the yard). However if for some reason your radio shows a lower
impedence the current will take that path instead. That's why people bury
the ground rods deep into MOIST soil; it's a low impedence path. On the
other hand  maybe the best path will be through your phone line or your
TV antenna or maybe your aluminum siding.......
Back to your question. If your coax is laying very close to a ground
like an electrical outlet, theoretically yes. It just might go through
there. Maybe. It'd be rare though because that really isn't a very good path.
It's happened to guys already though. In fact I use to disconnect my SWL
antenna, hang the end near the center screw of an outlet and and watch it
spark during high winds (static charge build-up). The end would go tick.
..tick.....tick...... That was before I grounded the antenna outside.
True story:  A friend of mine took a direct strike to his tower. His
coax carried the current for a couple seconds before it vaporized (20,000+
amps of currect there). In that couple seconds though, it worked it's
way though his radios. POP POP POP POP! Needless to say all the smoke
leaked out and they didn't work any more. That's why you disconnect all
coaxes and lay them *FAR* away from a ground.
Note: There are people who say to disconnect them and GROUND them. That
has a good point to it. Grounding the coax will allow any static charges
that build up to drain off.  BUT......it will also turn your antenna into
a lightning rod of sorts since it's now a grounded object.
I myself do NOT ground the loose coaxes.
The solution??? I dunno. Ground or not ground as you think is right, just
make sure that your antenna is *NOT* the highest thing in the area.
The simple fact is that *NOTHING* will save you from
a direct lightning strike. *NOTHING*! All you can do is set up the best
system you can and pray.  :)
KG9EV
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