[Elecraft] Unhook *ALL* connections before Lightning storm

[Rich - K1HTV]

I agree with Brian, its not very easy to pull off all wires and cables if you have a complex setup with multiple antennas and radios with many cables attached. In the K1HTV Ham shack I use my K3 and a few other radios on multiple modes on the HF, VHF & UHF bands.  Rather than removing all cables each time a storm is in the area, it is much more important to focus on installing a excellent ground system. 

Here at the K1HTV QTH, I've installed a perimeter ground around the house with 8 ft ground rods every 16-20 feet. The 77 ft tall tower with HF, VHF an HF antennas on it. An array of 8 ft long ground rods fan out from the tower and are connected to it and to the perimeter ground wire where it passes the tower. All coax cables from the tower to the shack are at or below ground level and enter the shack via 'UHF', 'F' or 'N' Female-to-Female barrel connectors attached to a steel box. This box is also connected to the perimeter ground, using 4 gauge wire. Rotator and control cables from the tower enter the box and each wire is protected with gas gaps to ground. The shack ground and the AC power panel are both tied to the perimeter ground system so both are at the same potential. If this isn't done, a large difference of potential can be developed in a lightning strike. The shack has a single point ground which connects to the steel cable entry box. Where the coax cable leaves the multi-port HF antenna switch to be connected to the K3, there is a gap device to ground via a UHF Tee connector.

Using good grounding techniques, in my 56 years of Hamming I've never lost a piece of Ham equipment to lightning. That's not to say that there won't ever be a direct lightning hit that will cause damage. For now, I plan to continue to leave all equipment connected. Its just too impractical to disconnect everything.

Just make sure that your household insurance is paid for and that it covers lightning damage.

73,
Rich - K1HTV

= = =

This sounds like good advice.  However, every connector socket on my K3 
is populated, ditto the computer, ditto the KPA500, ditto the KAT500.

Pulling all wires when there is a potential storm threat is totally 
impractical.  Even if I did, I'm sure some of the connectors would 
simply not last.

I suspect others have similar situations.

73 de Brian/K3KO

n 7/15/2014 10:58, Bill Blomgren (kk4qdz) via Elecraft wrote:
>   And another warning: Nearby (like next door) lightning will be picked up by ANY long wires which end up acting as antennas.
>
> I did computer repair in Florida.  I had a time share/multitasking system in a law office that had thousands of dollars in damage after the building next door got hit.
>
> The terminals were plugged into serial lines back to the central system.  So were the printers. (Think: 6 processor unix type system with a network inside the box)
>
> The tops of ICs were all over the guts of every printer, terminal and the computer let out the magic smoke.  ALL of the terminals and printers had been "unplugged" - but not from the RS232 connections.
>
> The ONLY way to isolate the rig is totally unplug the thing: antennas, power supplies and so on... same with your computers.
>
> Down in Florida, there are code required surge MOV's in every circuit breaker panel.  All they do is eliminate something close by.  They get vaporized by a direct hit.
>
>
> KK4QDZ - Now with Extra Class Priv's, and a tiny KX3 to enjoy them!