[TowerTalk] Sparky Pays a Visit

[K4SAV]

Pete Smith wrote

> I disconnect everything at the entry panel but don't usually 
> disconnect equipment from the house AC.  With close hits I have had 
> three instances when I have had arcs from the center conductor of the 
> barrels in the entry panel to the shell, and thence to ground -- it's 
> pretty startling, but aside from a little soot, no visible damage.
>  
>
It's pretty easy to get this if you have a long antenna attached (80 or 
160 M).  At first it may seem to do no damage, but each little arc will 
leave small metal particles across the area where the arc occurrs. 
Eventually it will cause a short circuit.  It may also puncture the 
dielectric in your coax (less likely). You can either short the line 
when not in use or put a Polyphaser (or equivalent) on it.

This reminds me of when I was a kid, back in the 50's.  I had an 80M 
dipole that when not in use, I got the bright idea of connecting it to a 
neon bulb. It worked pretty good, I could "see" lightning up to about 10 
miles away.  I thought it was neat, until we had a hit within a mile. 
That blew the neon bulb into a million small glass fragments which went 
all over the room.  I had forgotten to put in a series resistor.  I 
learned a few things about electronics and about lightning that day.

Jerry, K4SAV