[Elecraft] Lightning Strikes Twice

[Joel Black]

Yep, less than a week away from Field Day and I got hit by lightning - 
again.  As a matter of fact, most of my work (my paid job) over the past 
week has been due to lightning.

So far, the only amateur equipment that seems affected is my HD-73 rotor 
or the controller.  It turns on, but the needle does not deflect.  I 
have some archived email and I have a pot that I can use to test that.

The K3 / P3 were connected to coax through a switch, but so far both 
seem to be working fine.  I checked into a state voice net on 75m at 
100W output and was heard.  Later, I checked into a QRS CW net on 40m at 
5W and was heard.  On that net, I used Aether for logging and it talked 
to the K3 just fine.  I just got finished checking both of my WinLink 
accounts so digital seems to be okay.  The K3 will be used extensively 
at Field Day for the digital station.  It should get a good workout.  
Can anyone think of anything else to check? Funny thing though, my 
Astron RS-35 voltage regulator did not get popped.  It's usually the 
first thing to go.  I've got a stack of those voltage regulators for 
power spikes such as lightning.

Yes, this isn't my first rodeo.  I'll find "walking dead" for the next 
six months.

The K3 is not grounded and I wonder if that helped protect me. Instead 
of lightning looking for the path of least resistance to ground through 
my rig, it found it another way.

My poor daughter was here by herself.  She said there was no warning...  
Just FLASH...  BOOM!!!

73,
Joel - W4JBB