What I learned back in the day: A transmitter needs to be able to shed it's power to the antenna. No antenna could "blow up" your transmitter.
Seeing the hub is a transmitter for zigbee and zwave, I powered it down when replacing my antenna.
Don't think it will cause serious damage if you do it quickly, but power down just to be sure is my advise.
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Why did u swap it?
I switched to an antenna that @bertabcd1234 testd and had good results with. Also improved my Z-Wave results w/the C8.
Posted about it here:
Thanks for the replies, @fanmanrules and @aaiyar. Does make sense that the transmitter needs to shed its power. Pretty sure I changed my Z-Wave antenna w/out powering down and nothing blew up, but it was a quick switch.
Weird my zwave is already direct connect over 90% of devices and highest speed for all devices that support it.
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What really happens is that no antenna causes a severe impedance mismatch, and all the power is reflected back to the transmitter output. That’s what causes the damage.
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+1 Always power off the TX before changing an antenna.
SWR (reflected power) will go through the roof and potentially damage the RF output stage.
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Wait....everyone doesn't just keep a finger on the SMA connector during swaps and use their body as an antenna?
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I think you meant:
That sounds just a little pervy... 
Finger, whole figure, whatever works....
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