Glen,
? I probably should've checked the log to make sure that it was online, but normally I just do that when I bring D-Rats up the first time. I had to shut things down here for a few hours last night, as "a back door cold front" (moving northeast to southwest across the region, instead of either west to east, or northwest to southeast), spawned some thunderstorms. One moved into the downtown/midtown area of Little Rock, producing torrential rainfall, and lightning...but aside from a special weather statement issued by the National Weather Service, no other advisories or warnings were issued.
? However, with lightning less than 20 miles a way (it can strike up to 200 miles from the parent thunderstorm, the latter documented in Oklahoma a few years ago), I wasn't going to take a chance. A few years ago, I read a story where a ham radio operator had spared no expense for lightning protection...you name it, he bought it, and installed it...it was top of the line, and price was no object (must be nice to have all that money).
? Anyway, it did him no good...a strike to his antenna, vaporized the tower, mast, antenna, and coaxial cable. Inside his house, the inside of the UPS units and computer towers were black as coal, with the circuit boards melted and fused together, a melted monitor, and scorch marks down the walls of his home. He's lucky his structure didn't burn down, but he likely had to have all the electrical work redone. If the stuff was grounded, the direct hit overcame all of that.
? Each lightning bolt has 3 million volts and 300,000 amps of electricity, is no wider than your finger, but can be 5 miles long, can strike up to 200 miles from the parent thunderstorm (as noted above), and is 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit...5 times hotter than the sun's surface. In other words, it's no contest...no amount of grounding or surge protection is going to save your setup from a direct hit. You might as well unplug everything that you can. Even the phone company notes that "absolute protection from lightning is impossible".
? The preacher who married my wife and I over 17 years ago, was on the phone a few days before the wedding, and lightning hit their phone line. It literally knocked him across the room, and he nearly lost his hearing as a result.
? I personally am a 2 time indirect lightning strike survivor...but I carry no electrical charge, and can be handled safely (hi hi). While Skywarn severe weather operations got me into ham radio in 1991, after 28 years, I got burned out, and switched the emphasis to railroad crossing safety...see my QRZ profile for into.
Daryl, WX4QZ
Patrick Connor
Daryl Stout
Glen Strecker