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





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barbara Lombardi" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 23, 2013 3:18 PM
Subject: am off the air!


> Had very serious lightning strike yesterday and glad I wasn't home.  Took
> out my rig, my desktop computer even though it was connected to UPS, 
> several
> GFI's and had to reboot alarm system. Italso took out my cable.  Rope on
> antenna broke in the tree. Wow.
>
>
>
> Barb K1EIR
>