ZAPPED! It CAN happen 2U!

[GRJOHNSON at VAX1.BEMIDJI.MSUS.EDU]

I kid you NOT.....15 minutes after printing out the original,

      ****** I GOT ZAPPED!!! ******

I took a DIRECT hit to my 165 ft Rotating Rohn 55 tower.
The top couple of feet look like the exploded cigar in the cartoons.
The top VHF (PacketCluster) antenna and 80M rotating dipole were
VAPORIZED!  All of the other antennas AND the big bearing for the tower
were unharmed.

I HAVE read the PolyPhaser book and HAVE a nice bulkhead for EVERYTHING
(including rotor and other control lines).....but with I.C.E. stuff.

I have a mirror image station on left and right.  All radios and amps
were UNPLUGGED from the AC and antennas....but otherwise all connections
were left alone.  I was sitting in the shack and heard the most
INCREDIBLE   ***BANG-BANG***   I've ever heard.   The hit took the 
left transceiver and the right amplifier....AND two computers
(one the station computer, the other the PacketCluster computer) 
and some miscellaneous stuff.  The PacketCluster VHF radios 
were fried.  Two telephones, the house intercom, 
and a couple of other things don't work.  The power company's off peak
meter and control box exploded.

Had I NOT had the bulkhead, I'm sure the damage would have been MORE
extensive and maybe even burned down the house.

NOTHING will protect EVERYTHING from a DIRECT HIT!

The good news is that homeowners insurance is covering it all 
(replacement).  The hard part is the hastle of packing things
up for repair, etc.

Those who have seen my shack/bulkhead know it is done to commercial
standards for lightning protection.  I've survived MANY very close
strikes without a hitch, but a Direct Hit makes one a BELIEVER!

Again, no kidding, it was 15 MINUTES after reading the original!
I thought to myself, "I'm glad I've done it right!"

Please, don't send any exploding cigars......I've seen the best. 

73 and PLEASE get your grounding done!

Glenn WA0PUJ (aka "Sparky")


>From sellington" <sellington at mail.ssec.wisc.edu  Thu Aug 31 13:28:01 1995
From: sellington" <sellington at mail.ssec.wisc.edu (sellington)
Date: 31 Aug 1995 07:28:01 -0500
Subject: ZAPPED ! It CAN happen 2 U !
Message-ID: <n1402268346.95320 at mail.ssec.wisc.edu>

>PolyPhaser's lightning protection devices have DC blocks so no lightning
>energy goes to the rig through them.

A "DC Block", otherwise known as a capacitor, will NOT block all the 
current due to lightning.  Lightning is not DC!  The only way you can 
be sure no current will flow into the rig from the feedline is to disconnect
it.  That's not to say that protection devices are not useful, just be
sure to disconnect the cables when you're not operating anyway.

Scott  K9MA
sellington at ssec.wisc.edu

>From Bob Patten <z002816b at bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us>  Thu Aug 31 16:12:20 1995
From: Bob Patten <z002816b at bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us> (Bob Patten)
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 1995 11:12:20 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Glasses
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9508311151.A8401-0100000 at bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us>

On Wed, 30 Aug 1995, Pete Smith wrote:

> Maybe it's an indication of the aging contester population, but I got quite
> a few responses to my question about improving comfort wearing earphones

Should have thrown my comment in earlier, although it is not really an 
option...  Several years ago, I had surgery to re-attach a retina.  After 
surgery, my right eye became nearsighted.  Due to the aging process, my 
left eye became farsighted.  Sooo, I can sit at the operating position, 
look around the shack with left eye, or concentrate on the computer 
monitor with my right eye.  Bad eyesight, but no glasses needed.