[ICOM] Oh NO!!!!

Wed Apr 25 18:47:48 EDT 2012

Hey, I've seen the full spectrum of lightening craziness.   Lived on a
little 500 ft mountain top near Durham, NC, lot of 500 ft towers
around mine.   My highest one was 120 ft with 2 ele on 30 and 40 m,
plus 1296, 432, 2m ssb horizontal long-boom yagi's.     My power and
phone lines were buried into the place.  Could work Wilmington, NC
almost 300 miles away with 2w on 2 and 432, used all heliax, mostly 1
1/4 and 1 5/8 on vhf & uhf, 7/8ths on 160-10 m antenna's.
   Had a real nasty strike one Saturday night.  Hit the power pole out
front.  Blew the telco box out into the middle of the road in pieces,
burned the phone lines open underground part way to the house, blew
about half the breakers in the power panel, blew every incadesant
light bulb that was on, blew both the caller id boxes, looked like a
propane torch had been on them, all my power strips around the radio
desk had the switches blown to pieces and scattered all over the room.
 All antenna's were disconnected where they came in the radio room.
All power was turned off on the radio bench
  It got a couple pass transistors on the Astron 35 and the SCR
crowbar, the IC-756Pro and IC-2720 on the bench connected to the
Astron were unscathed, but an IC-2100 I had sitting for a spare on the
bench, no power leads connected, mic disconnected, ext speaker
unplugged, had the PA power module blown, along with the PIN switching
diodes.  All computers survived, all home electronics also.  Did have
polyphasers on all the antenna leads coming in, and on phone line
where it came in.
   Been at some of our commercial sites when they were hit, 330 ft
towers, wad's of heavy grounding, similar to telco, everything CAD
welded.   Some interesting stories there also.

73's de Stephen, K0SD

****************************************

On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 6:01 PM, John G. <af5cc at fidmail.com> wrote:
> Does the 756 original also suffer from these problems?  I have been thinking
> about getting one of those this summer when the summer teaching money comes
> in
>
> John AF5CC
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Phil Krichbaum" <vailphil at sopris.net>
> To: <icom at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 9:31 PM
> Subject: Re: [ICOM] Oh NO!!!!
>
>
>>     It sure seems a rig in this price range should have a reasonable
>> method of protection from ESD. Some of the old tube rigs had a neon
>> bulb across the RX antenna terminal to ground to bleed off the ESD.
>>     Phil N0KE
>>
>> On 4/25/2012 10:08 AM, Stephen Budensiek wrote:
>>> Phil,
>>>     I can't answer for the newer rigs.  But it is there in all flavors
>>> of the 756, ie the original 756, the Pro, the Pro2, and the Pro3.
>>> Someone commented it was also present in the 746 (I've never owned
>>> one).  Also can't tell you about the newer rigs.  I find it
>>> interesting as a engineering tech that it avoids the finals (should be
>>> first thing in the chain from the antenna port on the tx side, and
>>> goes to the drivers).  Not sure how that is done.
>>>
>>> 73's de Stephen, K0SD
>>>
>>> ***************************************
>>>
>>> On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 11:27 AM, Phil Krichbaum<vailphil at sopris.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>>      I'm not sure if you mean 756 PRO, PRO II or PROIII. I know from
>>>> first hand experience that the PRO II and PROIII suffer this problem
>>>> too easily (IMHO) from ESD (electrostatic discharge). I had a new in
>>>> the box PRO III and in the first hour after I took it out of the box
>>>> during which I made two QRP QSOS and one at 100w, the TX power went to
>>>> almost zero. At the time there was not one cloud in the sky, no wind
>>>> etc. The failure was some FETs and diodes in the tuner and it was only
>>>> after a few phone calls Icom agreed to cover the repair under
>>>> warranty! My antennas have less than 2:1 SWR.
>>>>      Another time I had a close lightening strike and my PROII was not
>>>> connected to an antenna and was off. It was off as was the Icom PS it
>>>> was connected to but it was plugged into the AC mains. The PROII was
>>>> totaled but I still use the same PS years later and it had no
>>>> problems. Several other items were damaged/destroyed (TV, answering
>>>> machine, computer, well pump relay) and it seems the damage came in
>>>> the neutral side of the AC 117 line. I've since had the power company
>>>> install a "meter treaters" on my electric meters and I've had no
>>>> further problems even after a direct hit on the over head feed to the
>>>> house last summer but your results may vary. I'm not then lone ranger
>>>> with this type of Icom 756 problems and have no clue if it has been
>>>> taken care of with the newer Icom rigs.
>>>>      Phil N0KE
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 4/19/2012 12:22 PM, bonddaleena at aol.com wrote:
>>>>> Hi. I've been a reader of this site for quite some time. Last summer, I
>>>>> took a 'close by' lightning hit. Flash and noise at same instant. I
>>>>> went into the house and found a bunch of stuff damaged. I suspect it
>>>>> hit a nearby AC line due to the following:
>>>>> It took out both of my rotor control boxes, Astron 50 Amp supply, TV,
>>>>> my 70 cm preamp, on a different tower, etc.
>>>>> I checked my favorite radio, my 756PRO, that I hand carried back from
>>>>> Tokyo when they first came out. It is connected to a PS-55 which is
>>>>> plugged into a large surge protector. Seemed OK.
>>>>> Yesterday, I went to call someone on 6M and noticed NO output. The
>>>>> receiver is fine.
>>>>>
>>>>> ALL antennas were disconnected as usual, when not in use and the coax
>>>>> pigtails were grounded. (I use hardline for most of my antennas}
>>>>>
>>>>> - no output on any band
>>>>> - ant OK
>>>>> - tried dummy load
>>>>> - used several different wattmeters
>>>>> - 'scope shows normal voice patterns
>>>>> - Po, SWR, etc non functional
>>>>> - tried master reset. no good.
>>>>>
>>>>> So, before I take a peak inside, any suggestions? I'd like to fix it
>>>>> myself, if possible.
>>>>>
>>>>> This is strange because my mint 745 next to it did the same thing a few
>>>>> years ago. I haven't bothered to even look at the 745 because the
>>>>> receiver is also fine. I use it with receiving converters.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you!!!
>>>>>
>>>>> ron
>>>>> N4UE
>>>>> ----
>>>>> Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC: icom-owner at mailman.qth.net
>>>>> Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.316 MHz
>>>>> Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/
>>>>> To support QSL/QTH.net: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----
>>>>> No virus found in this message.
>>>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>>>> Version: 2012.0.2126 / Virus Database: 2411/4947 - Release Date:
>>>>> 04/19/12
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> ----
>>>> Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC: icom-owner at mailman.qth.net
>>>> Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.316 MHz
>>>> Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/
>>>> To support QSL/QTH.net: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>> ----
>>> Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC: icom-owner at mailman.qth.net
>>> Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.316 MHz
>>> Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/
>>> To support QSL/QTH.net: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>>
>>>
>>> -----
>>> No virus found in this message.
>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>> Version: 2012.0.2126 / Virus Database: 2411/4958 - Release Date: 04/25/12
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> ----
>> Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC: icom-owner at mailman.qth.net
>> Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.316 MHz
>> Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/
>> To support QSL/QTH.net: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
> ----
> Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC: icom-owner at mailman.qth.net
> Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.316 MHz
> Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/
> To support QSL/QTH.net: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html