[TenTec] Count to Ten B4 Cussing Ten Tec

[Stuart Rohre]

  re the NEW O2! (that replaced the one lost to lightning)

DON"T ever leave any ham radio plugged into the AC line and on an 
antenna when you are not using the shack!  That is so basic, to not have 
the damage described.  Of course, it might have been so great a surge 
that it would have jumped across a Master Switch, so unplugging 
everything is about the best you can do.  There are quick slip on type 
UHF plugs you can get, and you could have a master AC plug you pull to 
take off line the AC distribution power strip, and that might have saved 
your other O2.

I have been a ham 54 years.  From my first year to last year, I have 
seen damage to ham rigs, or surges.  (No lightning this year).  Back in 
the tube days, we kept a neon lamp across the Antenna connection, and 
the lamp would flash when a Thunderstorm was within 5 miles and had 
lightning.  That was a minimum of 65 volts going into the fine wire of 
the receiver input coils.  I learned from that to disconnect it all.

I have seen a storm 10 miles away generate out flow winds that put 
greater than 600 volts of wind static on my large loop antenna one 
summer.  Those I only use now with permanent static dissipating high 
value resistors across the feeders to a ground rod.

With the push on PL 259, you can withdraw your antenna leads and put 
them onto a dummy panel of grounded SO 239's for safety, to ground your 
feeders.  Better still, to have a large manual disconnect switch outside 
the shack, as well.

Think about lightning.  It can be a stroke 10 miles long or more in air. 
  When it hits your house, do you think an open AC power switch is going 
to protect anything connected to it?  The distance across a power switch 
is no barrier to the flash or surge that has traveled 10 miles downward.

Now, if you are in a lightning prone location, on a hill, etc. it pays 
to install lightning dissipation rods on the buildings.  Have the tower 
or antenna support grounded well on EACH leg.  Run feeders inside a 
tower, if coax.  Use spark plug arrestors on open wire lines on the side 
of a tower before the line leaves the tower and again before the line 
enters the shack.  Bring control and feed lines into the shack low to 
the ground. Put a halo ground around your shack or home, bonded to all 
other ground rods.

Put surge suppression on each leg of your electrical service, at the 
main panel entry.

While these measures are no guarantee, they can go a long way toward 
easing your mind when a  new storm comes up.  And will put you on the 
air sooner, afterwards, even if another lightning event hits your 
electric service.

After a surge event, it is good to take loose the AC to everything, and 
add items back one at a time, while the power is on, to make sure 
something is not damaged or shorted such that it locks up a rig.

An ohm meter check from each side of a power cord to chassis will spot 
internal damage without opening the case of an item.  If you have a good 
sense of smell, put your nose close to an electronic enclosure, and any 
burned  insulation is often readily noticed.  Sealed items like wall 
warts need to be tested on power, as the smoke does not readily leak out 
of those.

Glad the new O2 was not at fault and that you were able to get on the 
air so soon.  Hope the insurance co. comes through, but remember you can 
appeal their ruling to your State Board of Insurance as a complaint, if 
you don't get what you have paid for all these years.

GL and 73,
Stuart
K5KVH