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In the shack
28 June 2014 | by This is a photo of me in the shack just before lunch today. Since lunch, I have had to disconnect everything because of an approaching lightning storm. At the last count (flashes to thunder) it was about 2km away but I think the storm is now moving away.
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| G3XBM in the shack today |
For storm maps see http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en . The storm seems to have moved off: I can still hear thunder (to the east) but no nearby lightning. We have heavy rain, which will do the garden good.
Just a moment ago there was a flash and thunder almost overhead. This showed up on the lightning map. Storms still rolling around. I shall not reconnect the antennas and radio gear for a while yet.
3 Responses to “In the shack”
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Nice shack, Roger. I live on a hill, which somewhat compensates for the indoor antenna. After a nearby strike fried my phone I had an electrician put a commercial grade surge protector on the line coming into the house. Not a perfect solution, but it might help the electronics when we have another one. Tried to get my neighbors to do that too, but nobody understood why it was cheap insurance.
Keep in mind that if you can see the flash or hear the thunder – you are in range! Lightning can hit 10 miles away or further.
MFJ, alpha delta or whomever have three posistion switches for two radios to connect to one antenna, that can be a good way of switching your rig from workable to a dead line, the purpose is the lightning will, when switched to a dead line(where another radio should have been connected to)the lightning strike when connected to ground will follow that path. the grounded line from a seperate coax to ground. even though the surface of the conductor is all that really will be affected. don`t forget to switch it over to the good line when the lightning threat is over.