diff --git a/src/freedombone-utils-firewall b/src/freedombone-utils-firewall
index 54f96688..65b7a23b 100755
--- a/src/freedombone-utils-firewall
+++ b/src/freedombone-utils-firewall
@@ -389,7 +389,8 @@ function domain_to_hex_string {
     segment=$(echo "$domain" | awk -F '.' -v value="$ctr" '{print $value}')
     while [ ${#segment} -gt 0 ]
     do
-        hexnum=$(echo "obase=16; $segment" | bc)
+        characters=$(echo -n "$segment" | wc -c)
+        hexnum=$(echo "obase=16; $characters" | bc)
         if [ ${hexnum} -lt 2 ]; then
             echo -n "|0${hexnum}|$segment"
         else