On Feb 15, 4:48*pm, bpnjensen wrote:
On Feb 15, 4:01*pm, Bob Dobbs wrote:



dave wrote:
On 02/15/2011 09:08 AM, Bob Dobbs wrote:
dave wrote:

http://www.mfjenterprises.com/pictures/MFJ-270.jpg

Looks like the gas discharge type I have.
Somewhere I heard someone say that they go shorted when hit,
like a MOV, but that seems counterintuitive and it seems more likely
that they would just go permanently open by out gassing.
What's your opinion on this?

The instructions point out that this happens and that you can get back
on the air by removing the replaceable arc pill thingy. I suspect a
charge big enough to fuse the gap would have been a front-end killer. I
was a firm believer in Power MOVs when I was a station engineer in South
Texas.

What about the gaseous content fuses into a short?
I agree that MOVs do fuse the junction, but they are solid state,
whereas I don't see how gaseous content becomes permanently conductive.

- Maybe it forms a coating on the inside of the plug?

Only -if- The Material ofl Container Ionizes with the
Gas and forms a Compound that is then Deposited
on the interior surface that is conductive.

More likely -if- the Material/Metal got so HOT as to
Ionize it would first flow and bridge the gap by itself.

****remember***
*IF* The Paint on your Antenna Switch is Burnt . . .
-mission-control-we-got-a-problem-;;-}}- ~ RHF