[TenTec] Lightning Strike

[Grant Youngman]

> Your mileage may vary, but as the retired forensic scientist 
> for a large 
> telecommunications company doing fire/lightning/electrostatic 
> discharge 
> investigations (among many other duties), I have found that anything 
> electronic "ain't never right" once it and lightning have 
> crossed paths.

I had a hit in the mid 90's.  Fortunately, an IC-781 was disconnected
completely at the time.  But I lost several thousand $$ worth of other
pieces of equipment.

To satisfy the insurance company, I had to send each piece of equipment to
the manufacturer (Icom, Kantronics, several others).  To the last vendor,
the equipment was returned UNTOUCHED, with a statement that they were not
repairable since they were damaged by lightning.  That satisfied the
insurance company, but didn't get any equipment repaired.  I talked to the
manufacturers in advance, and knew from each of them that this was their
approach for lightning damaged gear, but still had to go through the
exercise.

One radio that was quite severely damaged was a KWM-2A, with the entire
wiring harness behind the power connector not just burned but literally
blown out and mostly vaporized.  I rebuilt it, and it is currently still
working.  It's a testament of sorts to the resiliency and DIY repairability
of "obsolete" equipment with "old fashioned" (meaning you can see them
without a microscope) parts :)

Grant/NQ5T