[TowerTalk] An Enlightning Experience

[Jim White, K4OJ]

when did you move to Florida?

:-)

sounds like a routine occurrence here, unfortunately...

K4OJ



Pete Smith wrote:
> I took the first real lightning strike of my 49-year ham career Friday 
> evening about 5:30 PM.  It apparently hit my 40-meter yagi at the top of 
> the tower, about 200 feet from the house.  I was in my shack at the 
> time, and saw the flash, heard the almost instantaneous bang, and then 
> heard a loud bang inside the room with me.  Quite impressive!
> 
> Having all of the conductors from the tower disconnected appears to have 
> limited the direct damage, particularly inside the house.  I had 
> wondered whether there might be flashovers at the entry panel where I do 
> the disconnecting, but there is no evidence of that.  Both rotators, the 
> antenna switch, and the stackmatch relay box (all on the tower) are 
> apparently fried, and one of the loading wires on the 40m antenna is 
> hanging loose.  Induced voltage did most of the limited damage we had 
> inside -- one computer (an old one), a network card and the flat screen 
> monitor in the hamshack (but the associated computer is OK, oddly 
> enough), a hub, and a cable modem.  The big culprit seems to have been 
> our Ethernet network.  Our phone system had a lot of physical evidence 
> -- RJ-11 plugs welded into their sockets, etc. -- but we didn't lose a 
> single phone instrument, not even the cordless ones.  All of the series 
> traps and filters in our cable TV circuit from the pole inside the house 
> were blown, and we just got cable service restored late yesterday.  
> However, everything connected to it -- TV's, Tivo, VCR, etc., survived 
> intact, perhaps because I had a surge protector in the cable before the 
> first active device.
> 
> The real reason for posting this, other than amusement, is to suggest 
> that maybe the whole-house surge protector we had installed a couple of 
> years ago made a difference in the level of damage we sustained.  More 
> and more utilities are offering these now, to be installed behind the 
> meter.  In our case, the power company even insures electronics against 
> damage if you use both one of their whole-house protectors and local 
> protectors (ones they sell, natch) at the units themselves.
> 
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> The World HF Contest Station Database was updated August 4.
> 123 stations were added or updated.
> Are you current? www.pvrc.org/wcsd/wcsdsearch.htm
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com  for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless 
> Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with 
> any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>