Electric shock off aerial coax

[plugwash]

it is not normal to bother with serious lighting protection for private houses in the uk

the risk is simply too low for it to be worthwhile

for serious lighting protection you basically have to design your building electrics round it

http://members.cox.net/pc-usa/station/grounding.htm

as its american it assumes the ground system is TN-C-S

and btw they talk about using extremely wide coper tape with rods frequently spaced along it between the radio system ground point and the utility ground point

 

[AdamW]

Okay, would it make a difference if you take out the aerial lead out of the TV and earth out the aerial lead temporary ?

Well, whatever you plug the aerial lead into, it would weld itself to! That is assuming the conductor in the coax doesn't vapourise when the lightning hits the aerial...

If you lived somewhere with a significant risk then you could have your aerial hoist up and down, to get it way below the lightning spike on your house (well, you would have one!).

I know someone from Texas who had to disconnect their TV and computer when there was a storm as house-strikes are quite common in those parts.

 

[vxxbcks]

Surely you'd be much better with the whole aerial NOT earthed in an electric storm. Earthing it will only attract it!!

If you do earth the cable, you need a balun.

 

[ZenStalinist]

The reccomendation I heard is not to touch the connection actually DURING a thunderstorm, because you risk yourself being blown apart when you touch the connector. A long shot, I know, but unplugging before a storm is near is reccomended.