A week and a half ago one of my towers took a direct hit during an
electrical storm. Thanks to a good "single point" ground system linking
all towers, the station, main telephone ground and power company ground
not one antenna or piece of equipment in the shack was damaged EXCEPT
for the one item I failed to protect. When protecting your station do
not forget to provide surge protection for the telephone line going to
your computer modem. I forgot and it cost me a computer. No question,
from the physical evidence, that the phone line to modem path was the
one "selected". Two other computers in the shack which did not have
phone lines connected and which were otherwise protected did not suffer
any damage.
Radio Shack and others, BTW, sell surge protectors which protect both AC
and phone lines. The beauty is that the manufacturer of these devices
insures up to $10,000 worth of electronics plugged in if the device
fails. Pretty cheap insurance--costs about 10% of my homeowner's
deductable which is what I had to rely on this time.
Jerry Boyd
K6BZ
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