My Anton 99 I used to talk on 10 meters with was hit in 1999, not that bad, 
it didn't blow the antenna apart but it blew a hole in the coax and even 
after replacing that the antenna never worked again. I replaced everything 
but the antenna looked alright but I gave it to someone and it wouldn't work 
no matter what we did so it must have done more damage than was obvious.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 23, 2013 5:49 PM
Subject: Re: am off the air!


> Barb,
>
> Sorry to hear about the strike and I, too, am glad you weren't home.
> Several years ago, in the mid 90s, I took a direct strike on the vertical
> antenna I had at 55 feet and I was leaning against my metal office desk 
> when
> it hit and came down the coax and flashed over my grounding switch.  My 
> ears
> popped and I couldn't hear normally for a few minutes.  Had to send the 
> rig
> in because it popped a diode in the audio section of my transceiver. 
> Fried
> a desk phone and burned the coax at either end.  The top 3 feet of the
> vertical was blown away.  I never want to be that close again.  Just last
> year I bought a ground breaker switch for my breaker box.  They cost from
> 120 to 200 dollars plus having them installed which generally is quite
> simple.  Hope if I get a spike up the line, it will help stop it but I'm
> pretty faithful since that day to disconnect antennas.  They do some 
> strange
> things when those bolts come down the coax or phone lines or AC lines.
> Every breaker in the house tripped off when I took a hit and a friend was 
> in
> my office with his wife and we were talking when the dry lightning storm
> blew up quickly.  It took out blight bulbs just from the energy build up 
> in
> the room.  The guy's wife reached out and pulled me away from the desk and
> said, "Get away from that equipment; I saw flashes of light bouncing 
> around
> just behind you."  I said, "What happen to the thunder from the strike; I
> never heard it.  Everybody, including my children, all said it was the
> loudest thunder clap they ever heard.  Yet I never heard it at all.
>
> Phil.
> K0NX
> Living His Name