[Elecraft] potential of static damage

[Rich Lentz]

I have personal experience with both Static Damage and Lightening.

Early last year, late at night, I heard a terrific crash and saw very =
bright
lightning in my back yard.  I rushed in to my K2, saw it was still =
hooked up
to the antenna and disconnected the antenna.  Next morning it appeared =
the
K2 was working properly, even had a QSO.  However, later when I tried to =
use
the KIO2 with the PC for some PSK - NO GO.  Moved the K2 to another PC =
(PC
2) - NO GO.  Replaced the KIO2 - HALF GO.  The PC (PC - 2) talked to the =
K2
BUT the K2 didn't talk to the PC.  Replaced the MCU.  Now the K2 talked =
to
the PC and vs/vs (PC 2).  Moved the K2 back where it belonged - NO GO.  =
The
lightning had also wiped out the PC (PC 1) serial UART, which is one of
those all in one chips that does all of the PC IO (Hard drive, serial,
parallel, etc. even though they worked they are all part of the same =
chip)
Good bye PC 1. (Does any one want a 600 MHZ PC with no I/O serial ports =
and
questionable I/O services?)

This winter I walked in and turned on my PC (new one) and as I pushed =
the
on/off switch I got a ZAP.  PC did not come on. (the house was VERY DRY =
and
it was a good ZAP.  Luckily all that needed replacement this time was =
the
CPU.=20

Previous to these two incidents I have NEVER had a problem with =
lightning,
and have NEVER used grounding when building any kit or project and they
always worked.=20

I now have a GOOD static mat on my desk.