[TenTec] Count to Ten B4 Cussing Ten Tec

[Carl Moreschi]

Another thing to remember to disconnect when a storm is coming is the 
phone line.  I draw an imaginary circle around all my stuff on the 
operating bench and disconnect everything that crosses that line.  This 
makes my entire shack isolated from the outside world.

Carl Moreschi N4PY
121 Little Bell Dr.
Hays, NC 28635
www.n4py.com

On 9/9/2011 8:26 PM, Stuart Rohre wrote:
>    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
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