[ADXA] Antennas & lightning

[BILL KENNAMER]

I always disconnect power and antennas. However, I recently found out that’s not enough. We had a lightning strike on the property a couple of months ago that took down my computer. It was wirelessly connected to the Internet, but plugged in. The radios were connected by USB cables to the computer, but otherwise unplugged from everything else. The strike took out the USB port on the FTdx101 and the rs232 port on the FT1000MP.
I’m getting a new af board from the ‘101, and will start on the ‘1000 when I get the 101 working. Other than the computer ports, both radios are fine. Lesson learned is that when you live on a hill, all cables including the computer cables need to be disconnected at the radio. Also, your computer may be like mine, where there is power to the USB ports whenever the computer is plugged into the AC line, even when the computer is turned off.
Jussi,  say hello to Martti for me.
FUV


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On Sunday, July 13, 2025, 9:58 AM, Jussi Eloranta <eloranta at aa6kj.hopto.org> wrote:

  Hi, 
 
The weather has been pretty rough at least here in the NE corner. Lightning on and off on almost all days. I have been running back and forth between the house and the shack disconnecting and reconnecting antennas & power. The weather forecasts have been pretty useless with these storms. They appear quickly and are gone quickly. 
 
My question is as follows. With proper grounding and polyphasers on coaxes (+ surge protectors on power), do you guys disconnect antennas & power during storms? In CA lightning is rather rare and this was not an issue over there. I feel that here I have the radios disconnected most of the time! And my K4 died mysteriously during a recent storm with only the ground connected. It is possible that lightning can get in through the ground too... Fortunately Elecraft was pretty quick to fix it. 
 
Jussi (aa6kj) 
 
PS. I am headed to Finland to attend the annual SRAL summer meeting. Hopefully the weather is calmer there... Great to see some old friends over there. 
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