[TenTec] Lightning Strike Results...

[Grant Youngman]

> Still, I 
> was proud to own  
> the rig that had been featured in the QST review and 
> disappoitned at its

That really is a shame.  Maybe you could do like the fad in the 50's with
baby shoes and have it "bronzed" :-)  

I still have an IC-271A (2M all-mode if you're not familiar with 80's Icom
radios) up in the attic and some other things that were smoked by lightning
and declared "non-repairable" after a hit.  Icom wouldn't even pull the
covers off -- just sent me the radio back with a letter for the insurance
company.

It's a real hassle, but since then I completely disconnect the station
outside every night, and don't even bother to put it back together on any
day with rain and thunderbumpers in the forecast.  The original hit was on a
nice clear day with no bad weather in the forecast.  I left for work leaving
the antennas connected and some radios on. Of course the unexpected storm
popped up.  About 2 in the afternoon I got a call from my wife that there'd
been this big "BANG" up in the radio room.  Maybe it was the arc-plug
thingies in the feedlines or maybe just luck, but it didn't start a fire --
just scared her to death and wiped out some gear :-)  

Grant/NQ5T