On 5/7/98 6:58 PM, Tyler Stewart at k3mm@erols.com wrote:
>Pete, I'm with you all the way. For my money, disconnecting everything is
>much more valuable than a pile of lightning protectors and grounds.
Just don't disconnect them and leave them floating.
My only lightning hit was taken as an indirect strike on an 80m doublet
at 45 feet. Lightning vaporized the copper out of 45 feet of 450 ohm
transmitting twin lead. Left a huge black mark on the side of the house.
Had answering machine, clock radios and a television fry because of that
event. Ironically, the dipole stayed up in the air, while the feedline
fluttered to the ground.
However, my radio equipment survived unscathed. This is because it was
all packed into the back of my car. It was sunday afternoon after field
day, and I hadn't bothered to unpack it. the doublet was left floating,
since I had packed away the antenna tuner it was connected to.
I'm convinced that the doublet wouldn't have been hit if it had been
properly grounded and protected.
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr@radio.org
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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