Wahhh! I just discovered another victim of the lightning disaster at the ol’ homestead. I have a small FM broadcast band transmitter (1/4 watt) that I use to transmit Christmas music for my computerized light show. Yesterday I discovered it had become a paperweight. It was setting among the computer gear on my large desk and was plugged in but turned off using the button on the front. It is powered by one of those...
Continue reading...lightning
Smoke and Mirrors
Here is the evidence that lightning will go where ever it chooses. It started at the electrical outlet and finished up in the plumbing. The aluminum (sorry not silver) in the mirror provided a low impedance (resistance) path to ground. The first picture is of course simulated but shows what happened. The second shows where the coating vaporized off the cover plate in line with the neutral wire screw head. There were similar spots at...
Continue reading...The R7 Lives!
The antenna I use for my amateur radio station is a Cushcraft R7 half wave vertical. This antenna has been installed for at least 15 years. It was on my house in Ohio for 3 years and on my present house here in Texas for 12. The lighting strike at this QTH (location ) killed my radio transceiver. I now have a new Ten-Tec Omni VII that I didn’t want to damage by using a...
Continue reading...A Half Terabyte More
The last 500 Gig drive, a Seagate seems to be doing very well. No clicks of death and very quite. The format was faster and in fact everything about it is faster. I’m glad because the drive that I spent more than a week in moving my 64 bit Vista install to, started to wither and die. I don’t know if it was a victim of the lighting shock but it could be as it...
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