[Icom] Re: Damage

[Eric Dobrowansky, KK2ED]

Bill, I feel your pain!

Back in August of 2001 I had a similar event. Lightning hit my vertical at
the top of the tower, and came down the outer shields of the cables, and got
into the grounding system.  ALL of my radios were disconnected from the
antenna systems. However, after analying the damage and the way things were
connected, the lightning made it into the shack via the cable tv and
telephone lines. It went thru a PC with a tv tuner card, then from the pc
serial cables into the ham radios (computer controlled). Then it went into
other radios grounded or connected on the desk. It also went thru the cable
modem and router, then into other pcs in the house, and every tv and phone
in the house. The catv tap at the curb was blown also. The cable techs said
they never saw anything like it. Other items in the house saw some damage
via the electrical grounding and/or the discharge that took place.
Unfortunately I was not home at the time, but my wife said that she could
feel something strange in the air just as the strike occurred, almost like
the hair on your ams when near static electricity. I'm sure the near field
was quite strong! I also had to replace my main service panel, as the 200A
main breaker caught fire for a second or so and welded itself into the panel
where it couldn't be removed. Fortunately the house wiring and main feed
survived.  Total damage between home electronics, electrical, and ham radios
totaled over $20k!!   And the antennas were disconnected! The lightning
protection stuff probably saved me from a fire, or more damage, but then
again, if the antennas weren't grounded where they enter the house, the
lightning discharge may never had made it inside thru the other routes!  I
don't care what the exerts say, I have seen lightning damage in homes and
commercial tower sites, and it gets a mind of its own in each situation.

The worst part is the time involved in estimating and replacing everything.
While the insurance co. will most likely do good by you, you will lose much
time and sleep in the process.

Eric
KE2D