I’ve Been Hit! - Lightning Killed My Ham Radio Hobby

#hamradio

My Ham Radio tower took a lighting strike. I lost a ton of equipment. Thanks you for stopping by the channel today.

[Subgunman]

We went through that back in the late 60’s. Lighting hit our 200 foot tower. Let’s see it was adjacent to the 200 foot deep well water pump. It took out a brand new GE TPL base station which was very expensive for the times ( these later would all have to be replaced a year later when the FCC went from 15 KHz deviation to 5 KHz. ) upon going to the basement after we smelled smoke we saw the well contractor was blown apart with the starting cap spiraling out from its case. The main cause of smoke. The well pump itself was fried, a clock radio was toast as well as a bunch of light bulbs that were not even on. The priority was to notify the airport that was within the five mile radius of it to let them know our tower lights were out. Priorities to repair were the water pump and tower lights. They were out the next day for the pump but tower lights took about a week to get them replaced. The onLy thing remaining in the light fixtures were the brass bulb bases and glass beads from the bulbs. Vaporized! Damages were around $4K with the main cost in a new VHF business band base station and the well equipment.
I make it a priority of disconnecting everything when thunderstorms are in the area. Important Note, when you are not using your computers UNPLUG THEM!. They are actually power leaches since they are always on. The 5 volt rail is on so as to sense the momentary power control switch, even modern TV sets utilizing remote controls, are always on.
Fast forward to about ten years ago after we moved to SV9 land I had installed a Lucent Avaya telephone system in our new home. Well as luck would have it lightning hit the telephone lines down the street and it wound up taking out then phone system and the main base station of a multi extension cordless phone set. Called the local phone company, they lied to me, they said the lines were grounded at the telephone poles, BS. I took the initiative to unbury some Telcom supplies and found my short 66 block with modern heat coils and installed it on the lines. Knock on wood no problems since but I got strange looks when telco repairman came out to diagnose a problem which was on their side of the demarcation point, they wondered what that odd punch down was all about.(here in the EU they use Krone punchdowns instead of the 66 or 110 blocks we use in the states.
Today waiting for fiber feed into the home where I will hopefully be electrically isolated from lightning issues. Both the fiber to WAN box and the router are hooked to a UPS that I unplug when the weather gets crappy.

[superiorvideoandphotograph]

If I know a storm is coming, I unplug my radio gear and disconnect the coax cable from the radio to the antenna.

[fnordist]

You can ground as much as you want, but if lightning strikes directly into the antenna, the best ground won't help. While it may prevent fires, no electronics can withstand surges from a direct hit.

[ugsisr]

I am very sorry to hear about your loss... I really hope your Insurance Company covers at least some of it.. Thank You for sharing this and hopefully it helps other Hams

[kkpdk]

I had a proximity strike ~20 years ago, it hit a fence 20m away. I remember the trace on my analog oscilloscope going the wrong way just before the strike, and then I was hiding under the table. Even then, the induced voltage was enough to blow the network connector off of the PCBs in a few computers, and weld the brackets to the chassis (10BASE-2 days). When you said you still had feedline attached, my heart sank, because now it is in the mains. No, I don't believe the grounds would have much difference to a residential setup, a direct hit is fierce. I hope some of your storage is recoverable.

[AGKN]

About a direct strike...

the YL (Raisa EW1YL) says place the antenna on the ground. Literally not much more you can do.

Had an AN/TPY-2 Radar take a direct hit in 1996. It (an antenna tower) won't take a direct strike. The takeaway is to have insurance on your gear.

[WRTS]

So sorry to hear about your incident. Hope you get back running soon! Best of wishes for recovery! 73

[thatfonkyhonky]

a local CB guy had to rewire his whole house, lost thousands of dollars worth of equipment incl 2 cobra 2000's, etc. so my CB antenna is a folded dipole hanging vert in a tree on a pulley/rope hoist system. when im not home in the summer, or theres storms rolling in, the 450 feeder gets disconnected from the balun behind the house, and coax gets tossed out the window, and the antenna gets layed on the ground

[lomgshorts]

No, an extensive ground system will not keep your equipment safe if you are still connected to antennas !! Disconnect and isolate to be safe !!

[trevormangus]

I really glad you have personal property insurance through your home insurance It should cover everything under acts of natural except for the deductible

[christopherleubner]

Ive buit lightning protectors before and the stuff needed to truly protect a transmitter is fairly specialized. In short it is a combination of spark gaps, TSV diodes and a high voltage rated coupling capacitor and isolator. What you want is to have the protector parts to dead short and the pulse to go ground.

[yqtszhj]

There is no stopping a direct hit. I worked for at&t and they spend tens of thousands of dollars on grounding and I’ve seen lightning run the grounds and knock out equipment.

[efnuehz]

Old radio operator here i used to put my feeds in canning jàr as far away but weather has been slight for years so cdidntt even by pass lines lost newest piece to just static field build up
I have whole house protector waiting for appointment of electrician coming to upgrade for new AC furnace install
Its a good one built by vets in USA handles lightning, power company surges, emp, everything protected but the appointment delayed out couple week

[scotthensley]

Now you get to purchase a ton of new equipment

[FraterAlex]

I unscrew my antenna connection every time I am done, and unplug the power strip, for this exact reason. I really do not know but perhaps this has saved me quite a bit of equipment.

[daniell]

Check with your home insurance, sometimes it's covered. I know Callum from DX Commander had lighting destroy more than 10k worth of equipment and his insurance covered a lot of it, if I remember correctly.

[tracyleewilliamson]

WOW THAT IS SCARY IM BRINGING MY WI-FI IN ON NASTY WEATHER thanks for WARNING BE CAREFULL

[extreme]

This helps. But an antenna switch that has a ground spot ( ground the switch itself) and has a fuse built in, like alpha delta.

[brucebissell]

SORRY 4 YOUR LOSS. IT HAPPENED TO ME 6 YEARS AGO. RADIOS UNPLUDED BUT HAD A GROUNDING BAR ON THE BACK OF MY DEAK, BUT IT CAME THROUGHT THE GROUND AND TOOK OUT TV's IN THE HOUSE AND UP THE GROUND BAR TO EACH RIG.
COX WAS UN PLUDED, BUT WIPED AROUND AND ARKED THE SIDES OF RADIOS AND SPECKERS. LOST A BIT OVER $2K. OUCH! !
73, KE7LGD SOUTHWEST UTAH. WELCOME TO THE CLUB BROTHER.

[CQBlindHams]

I got hit back in 2019. Unplugged coax from my TS2000 and FT450d but forgot the cereal to USB cables to my PC. Which was wired to my router that was connected to DSL modem. Garage door opener, The modem and router plus 2 PCs, both radios and a Openspot for DMR were fryed. Thank God for my Farm Bureau insurance for the $5, 300 check to replace my gear.