I’ve Been Hit! - Lightning Killed My Ham Radio Hobby

#hamradio
My Ham Radio tower took a lighting strike. I lost a ton of equipment. Thanks you for stopping by the channel today.

[@Sctronic209]

Nothing will stop a direct hit.

[@jamess1787]

Instantaneous quantum teleportation.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

You're so right. I don't believe grounding would have helped on this one. Thank you for the comment.

[@K5JHP-John]

I think only unplugging antennas outside before they ever enter the shack can maybe protect all in the shack.

[@Sctronic209]

@@K5JHP-John I agree, lightning is unpredictable scary stuff.

[@NVIN-ov9dn]

No polyphasers?

[@superiorvideoandphotograph375]

If I know a storm is coming, I unplug my radio gear and disconnect the coax cable from the radio to the antenna.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I do too. But I missed one and that was all it took. Thank you for the comment.

[@fnordist]

You can ground as much as you want, but if lightning strikes directly into the antenna, the best ground won't help. While it may prevent fires, no electronics can withstand surges from a direct hit.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

So true. Thank you for the comment

[@KC8EMH]

So sorry to hear about your incident. Hope you get back running soon! Best of wishes for recovery! 73

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Thank you and best wishes to you too. Thank you for the comment. 73

[@scotthensley8083]

Now you get to purchase a ton of new equipment

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Ha! I wish it were true. Thank you for the comment.

[@ugsisr]

I am very sorry to hear about your loss... I really hope your Insurance Company covers at least some of it.. Thank You for sharing this and hopefully it helps other Hams

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Me too. So far I'm still filling out paperwork. Thank you for the comment.

[@Subgunman]

We went through that back in the late 60’s. Lighting hit our 200 foot tower. Let’s see it was adjacent to the 200 foot deep well water pump. It took out a brand new GE TPL base station which was very expensive for the times ( these later would all have to be replaced a year later when the FCC went from 15 KHz deviation to 5 KHz. ) upon going to the basement after we smelled smoke we saw the well contractor was blown apart with the starting cap spiraling out from its case. The main cause of smoke. The well pump itself was fried, a clock radio was toast as well as a bunch of light bulbs that were not even on. The priority was to notify the airport that was within the five mile radius of it to let them know our tower lights were out. Priorities to repair were the water pump and tower lights. They were out the next day for the pump but tower lights took about a week to get them replaced. The onLy thing remaining in the light fixtures were the brass bulb bases and glass beads from the bulbs. Vaporized! Damages were around $4K with the main cost in a new VHF business band base station and the well equipment. I make it a priority of disconnecting everything when thunderstorms are in the area. Important Note, when you are not using your computers UNPLUG THEM!. They are actually power leaches since they are always on. The 5 volt rail is on so as to sense the momentary power control switch, even modern TV sets utilizing remote controls, are always on. Fast forward to about ten years ago after we moved to SV9 land I had installed a Lucent Avaya telephone system in our new home. Well as luck would have it lightning hit the telephone lines down the street and it wound up taking out then phone system and the main base station of a multi extension cordless phone set. Called the local phone company, they lied to me, they said the lines were grounded at the telephone poles, BS. I took the initiative to unbury some Telcom supplies and found my short 66 block with modern heat coils and installed it on the lines. Knock on wood no problems since but I got strange looks when telco repairman came out to diagnose a problem which was on their side of the demarcation point, they wondered what that odd punch down was all about.(here in the EU they use Krone punchdowns instead of the 66 or 110 blocks we use in the states. Today waiting for fiber feed into the home where I will hopefully be electrically isolated from lightning issues. Both the fiber to WAN box and the router are hooked to a UPS that I unplug when the weather gets crappy.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Wow, I guess you had a bit more experience with lighting then me. I don't see us getting fiber anytime soon here. Those are some good words of advise. Thank you very much for your comment.

[@Subgunman]

@@Darrell_Coquillette yeah but I hope neither one of us has to go through that again. Keep safe and I hope you get on the air again soon! 73!

[@yqtszhj]

There is no stopping a direct hit. I worked for at&t and they spend tens of thousands of dollars on grounding and I’ve seen lightning run the grounds and knock out equipment.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Thank you for the comment. I hope I don't go though this again anytime soon.

[@kkpdk]

I had a proximity strike ~20 years ago, it hit a fence 20m away. I remember the trace on my analog oscilloscope going the wrong way just before the strike, and then I was hiding under the table. Even then, the induced voltage was enough to blow the network connector off of the PCBs in a few computers, and weld the brackets to the chassis (10BASE-2 days). When you said you still had feedline attached, my heart sank, because now it is in the mains. No, I don't believe the grounds would have much difference to a residential setup, a direct hit is fierce. I hope some of your storage is recoverable.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Thank you for the comment. Yeah, I don't know if grounding would have helped or not. Take care and Thanks again.

[@brucebissell7626]

SORRY 4 YOUR LOSS. IT HAPPENED TO ME 6 YEARS AGO. RADIOS UNPLUDED BUT HAD A GROUNDING BAR ON THE BACK OF MY DEAK, BUT IT CAME THROUGHT THE GROUND AND TOOK OUT TV's IN THE HOUSE AND UP THE GROUND BAR TO EACH RIG. COX WAS UN PLUDED, BUT WIPED AROUND AND ARKED THE SIDES OF RADIOS AND SPECKERS. LOST A BIT OVER $2K. OUCH! ! 73, KE7LGD SOUTHWEST UTAH. WELCOME TO THE CLUB BROTHER.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

It sound like you had your fun with it. Hope you and I never see that happen again. Thank you for your comment. 73's

[@lomgshorts3]

No, an extensive ground system will not keep your equipment safe if you are still connected to antennas !! Disconnect and isolate to be safe !!

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Most likely I will still have lighting issues even with a good grounding system. Thank you very much for the comment.

[@thetravi1348]

Even if you had your grounding in when it hit, I bet would have at least fried the Yeasu. Thats rough tho. Looks like you’re taking it in stride tho. Sorry for your loss.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Thank you very much for the comment. I'll slowly get things back to normal here.

[@user-ef3nu1eh7z]

Old radio operator here i used to put my feeds in canning jàr as far away but weather has been slight for years so cdidntt even by pass lines lost newest piece to just static field build up I have whole house protector waiting for appointment of electrician coming to upgrade for new AC furnace install Its a good one built by vets in USA handles lightning ,power company surges ,emp , everything protected but the appointment delayed out couple week

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I'm thinking of installing a whole house system here. If I do, I'll make a video about it. Thank you for the comment.

[@thatfonkyhonky336]

a local CB guy had to rewire his whole house, lost thousands of dollars worth of equipment incl 2 cobra 2000's, etc. so my CB antenna is a folded dipole hanging vert in a tree on a pulley/rope hoist system. when im not home in the summer, or theres storms rolling in, the 450 feeder gets disconnected from the balun behind the house, and coax gets tossed out the window, and the antenna gets layed on the ground

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Sorry to hear that you lost so much equipment. I'm sure hopping that It doesn't happen again anytime soon. Thank you for the comment.

[@thatfonkyhonky336]

@@Darrell_Coquillette it wasn't me. a guy up the road. thats why I engineered my CB antennnas to be disconnected completely from the house. and dropped down in a hurry

[@christopherleubner6633]

Ive buit lightning protectors before and the stuff needed to truly protect a transmitter is fairly specialized. In short it is a combination of spark gaps, TSV diodes and a high voltage rated coupling capacitor and isolator. What you want is to have the protector parts to dead short and the pulse to go ground.

[@peterdeyanov5056]

Bro. When (if) lightning strikes you, every semiconductor turns into a whole conductor and then melts down to charcoal. If it doesn't evaporate. You talk about static. There's no lightning protection, man. Good ground, bad ground, no matter.

[@extreme978]

This helps. But an antenna switch that has a ground spot ( ground the switch itself) and has a fuse built in , like alpha delta.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I've been waiting for the rain to stop here and for ground to dry up. That way I can put my ground rods in. Those Alpha Delta switches are on my list. Thank you for the comment.

[@AG4KN]

About a direct strike... the YL (Raisa EW1YL) says place the antenna on the ground. Literally not much more you can do. Had an AN/TPY-2 Radar take a direct hit in 1996. It (an antenna tower) won't take a direct strike. The takeaway is to have insurance on your gear.

[@Mr_D555]

I was waiting for the key word "Tower" to enter this story.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Ha! I know right? I haven't seen any damage on the tower. Thank you for the comment.

[@tracyleewilliamson4727]

WOW THAT IS SCARY IM BRINGING MY WI-FI IN ON NASTY WEATHER thanks for WARNING BE CAREFULL

[@nealbeach4947]

Having lived in Florida for 15 years and helped two friends clean up direct hits on antenna systems I'll tell you grounding is over rated. These were well grounded stations by guys that knew what they were doing and it still wiped them out. I learned back then to not be cocky and disconnect and isolate all antenna cables and a/c lines when not in use. And after 45 years in the hobby I've never lost anything to lightening.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Yeah, I've had the same experiences with commercial towers that were well grounded. I just hope grounding mine will give it somewhere else to go. But I hope I never find out again. Thanks very much for the comment.

[@trevormangus7832]

I really glad you have personal property insurance through your home insurance It should cover everything under acts of natural except for the deductible

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I surely hope so. I miss my daily routine. Thank you for the comment.

[@jamess1787]

Lightning is a bugger. I had a direct strike (commercial site) ar a substation, "i" had ~20k worth of equipment get blown, the only thing that DIDNT DIE was one single radio that wasnt grounded at the tower (dish was grounded, but actual radio wasnt; it is still fine to this day). When I replaced all the affected gear: i made sure to ground it all, again. I think the substation power lines got hit because there was no charring or metal burned on the tower that i could see. (I suspect) GPR wiped out the radios on the tower, and then their surge arrestors. All of the other equipment inside the building was saved from proper facilities grounding. ... That being said, ive witnessed another tower get hit multiple times: and our gear on there was fine (sometimes a DC circuit breaker would trip); aside from that: its amazing what survives and what doesnt.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Thanks very much for the comment. I was hoping I could have gotten my stuff grounded before storm season. But of course that didn't happen. Our club had a 157' rohn tower that went for almost two years before we got around to install a ground system there. It never had an issue. I wait six months and well, I get hit.

[@jamess1787]

@@Darrell_Coquillette Yeah you never know. For what it's worth, I helped a local club (I climbed a 525' tower), the duplexer was hit at the top of the tower, got it bypassed but the 4-bay Sinclair developed some weird problem. One of the elmers (brilliant engineer kind of guy) thinks it developed intermod or something. Thankfully there was another 2m dipole up there. 73 From VE4 land.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

There is a lot of hidden problem lightning can cause. 525' will answer the question ( Am I afraid of heights ) Thanks you for the comments. 73

[@dawnbassett6926]

I think the lightening hit your tower so you have no distractions from finishing the cabinet.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I'm to sick over my equipment loss to think of woodworking now. Thank you for your sweet comment.

[@kb9vkq]

Sorry to hear this but you have time before winterheat hope to hear you again. 73

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Ha! Yes I do. I'm sure I'll be ready for WinterHeat this year. Thanks for the comment. 73

[@reamer1363]

It's the whole 1 in a million thing go buy a lotto ticket and the negative might just even itself out.

[@NVIN-ov9dn]

Sorry about the hit. Insurance up by me told me I was SOL for most of the radios but they covered the TVs and PCs still its been 11 years since and I still scratch my head when I think about it.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

So far I've gotten some money on everything I lost. I hope I can replace most of it. Thank you for the comment.

[@paulyoungs7828]

Sorry to hear about that. Did you have lighting arrestors on your antenna cable? Would that have helped?

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I did not have arrestors in place at the time of the strike. Thank you very much for the comment.

[@AdamDeal-KF0PRI]

man that really sucks! as far as lightning goes it take the path of least resistance and wont stop! the internet was you ground and it found it!

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Yes, the internet is what killed most of the equipment. Thank you very much for your comment.

[@johnf853]

Sorry to hear that happened.

[@markviers998]

Sorry dude, been there also. Last strike we had came in on the DSL landline modem, ran down the cat5 cables to all our PC's and also toasted the usb port in my IC-7200. All the radio's were disconnected from their coaxes and the AC but I forgot about the usb connection. Thankfully that was the only radio related damage but now everything is using Wifi so at least there's no cable running everywhere.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

All I did was forget one radio, and that all it took. Thanks very much for the comment.

[@FraterAlex]

I unscrew my antenna connection every time I am done, and unplug the power strip, for this exact reason. I really do not know but perhaps this has saved me quite a bit of equipment.

[@peterdeyanov5056]

There should not be any potential on the equipment. This could save him.

[@peterdeyanov5056]

I don't know how to put a like of a drama like this. You are lucky to be alive and well and there was no house fire. Everything else is irrelevant. Everything else can be bought again. Lightning didn't killed your hobby. The things that don't kill us make us stronger. And things lost in the fire we find in the ashes. I'm sorry for what happened. Keep your head up! Best 73!

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

You are so right on that one. I'm slowly get things back to normal here. Thank you very much for the comment. 73 de N9JOD

[@slappomatthew]

where's the pics? we wanna see. Sorry about your loss.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Went I get the antennas down, I will make a video on the damage. Thank you for the comment.

[@HAMFunko4pdi]

I learned a long time ago that you can neither prevent nor predict lightning. Disconnecting your equipment is a good way to get it fried. Answer me this question, do Radio and TV stations disconnect in a storm? No. Why? Because the grounding is good enough. My tower has 3 ground rods which are 8 feet long and are 8 feet away from the tower in 3 directions. They also are bonded to the house's electric ground. Does this mean Lightning can't hurt me? No. But it helps. We had a lightning strike in my neighborhood that knocked out electronics in 7 houses on my block. But it is preventative to protect your equipment to keep it connected. You can't predict or prevent lightning. But you can do all that you can to mitigate the damage. Good luck in recovering, you did nothing wrong, lightning sucks in all instentes.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

That's true. The radio I left connected gave the lightning somewhere to go and it wasn't me. Thank you very much for the comment.

[@oobihdahboobeeboppah]

I have the usual property insurance as required but I have additional ham radio insurance from Han Radio Insurance Associates that cover not just the gear but the mechanical, rotor, etc. I'm guessing that you were set up better than most even though you were still working on things. Glad that your real treasures weren't harmed; they can't be replaced. Radio gear can be replaced.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I was most happy that my wife, myself and the animals are fine. The house didn't burn. The equipment can be replaced. Thank a lot for the comment.

[@40MeterTechHamRadio]

well dont feel that bad, I just blew one of my finals.... now I have to wait for them to get here from China and then replace them so I am not a happy camper myself.....

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

That's not fun. I hope you get it running again soon. Thank you for the comment.

[@40MeterTechHamRadio]

have you checked your home insurance policy?

[@lomgshorts3]

Your loss hurts, I know. But next tie you will be a fanatic about disconnecting equipment as I am. We have violent storms here in Alabama on a constant basis, and Hams are very good at disconnecting their stuff. You get to be very good at fixing stuff due to lightning damages, even when disconnected !!!

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Thank you for feeling my pain on this. And thank you very much for the comment.

[@CQBlindHams]

I got hit back in 2019. Unplugged coax from my TS2000 and FT450d but forgot the cereal to USB cables to my PC. Which was wired to my router that was connected to DSL modem. Garage door opener, The modem and router plus 2 PCs, both radios and a Openspot for DMR were fryed. Thank God for my Farm Bureau insurance for the $5,300 check to replace my gear.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I'm glad your insurance paid off for you. We'll see what mine does for me. I'm hope I can least get half of what I lost back. Thank you very much for the comment.

[@christopherleubner6633]

Hmm universal cereal bus.. I think lucky charms would be a good choice 😂

[@robertgaines-tulsa]

Insurance to the rescue. When you get your new computer set up, might as well get those ground rods in place before you replace all your antennas. I can't wait to see the video on it. Did you have power surge protection on all your equipment? Did you have gas-filled tube lightning arresters? EMPs with lightning strikes are also a problem. When my outdoor TV antenna got struck a few years ago, I lost a couple of LED bulbs in outdoor light fixtures as well as some plug-in emergency lights. That was it. The TV antenna wasn't connected at the time. My security camera even recorded the flash reflected off the ground and the sound. It sounded like a cannon shot.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I was also thinking I would not replace anything on the tower until I got the ground system install. It did get into the electric in the shop and house. At the time of the strike I didn't have a ground system on the tower. I need to make sure I make it the best I can afford. Thank you very much for the comment.

[@peterdeyanov5056]

@@Darrell_Coquillette You know that a spark occurs between points of two different potentials. The cloud is one potential, the ground is the other. Lightning is an arc discharge so powerful that it overcomes air resistance and strikes from hundreds of meters high with millions of amperes. Do you think this lightning arrester will stop her? And what if there is no potential to discharge into? No ground?

[@JohnWhite-gl8ok]

I feel for you. My I-max ground plane must have got hit it was unplugged but the SWR's are way up. My homemade wire antenna is fine. My power pole got got broke off even with the the ground but still working. I' on SSI and can't afford a new pole or eletrition. So I'm doing what I can with help from freinds when they have time. I'm a cb er but did'nt loose any radio stuff. So I'll pray for you and I lost everything in Katrina so this is got me bent out of shape. I would do the ground to what you can afford. It could minamize the damage. I'in Jackson Ms. I'm just thankfull for what I got. God bless you and hope you get 10-8 soon. John White

[@patrickslevin6424]

Hell, my whole house burned.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Oh no! I hope no one was injured. That must have been a heck of a strike. I did check the house and shop for fire. Thank you for the comment.

[@K5JHP-John]

Sorry for what happened. I know we all wonder how insurance will treat a tower or antenna sourced lightning claim. I'm not asking dollars, but when all is said and done I would be interested to know if they covered the loss? If they excluded equipment from the loss? Insurance is so weird, Ib never know what to get.

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I plan on doing some update videos on what I go though as far as recovering losses with the insurance company. Thank you very much for the comment.

[@K5JHP-John]

@@Darrell_Coquillette I work in insurance, and wonder whether my ham equipment and computers will be covered. 15 years ago in a past house our Directv dish was struck. Homeowners insurance would not cover five Directv owned receivers, and Directv made up pay for them. A lot of hams worry about this. I just had a major storm come through my city minutes ago here in Southern Louisiana. Thank you! Good luck putting it all together again. It sounded like a great setup.

[@Jennifer-007]

Have not shown any damage or equipment that was hit… hmmm 🧐

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

No I didn't show much. I've been busy with the insurance company and the cancer stuff. Some of the stuff went to the garbage because it was smelling the house up. Thanks for the comment.

[@gn1656]

Some pix of the damage would be more interesting than just talk?

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Ha! Are you saying my talk isn't interesting? lol I'll try and show some damage. Thank you for the comment.

[@Sctronic209]

Real bummer 😮

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

Yeah, it sure is. Things will come back together soon. Thanks for the comment.