Tim,

darn man.. RUN THAT THING in the storm.. I can understand taking antennae out K>of service, and YES I did lose a BBS to lightening, but it was my fault, I've K>NEVER EVER had any more issues with my BBS and storms, I have sure arrestors K>hooked to EVERYTHING coming in and out of the computer, plus extra grounding K>the service lines leaving the back panel.

Not the way lightning strikes so close around here. When they built
the apartment complex 40 years ago as a prototype, they either didn't
put in grounding rods at all (to save on cost), or did simple grounding
at the meter ONLY...and nowhere else.

One ham radio operator spared no expense for lightning protection. You
name it, he bought it, and installed it. But, it didn't do him any good.

He took a direct or very close hit...his antenna, tower, mast, and
coaxial cable...were all VAPORIZED...not a trace left!! Inside his
structure, the walls were blackened, and inside the UPS and computer
towers, they were black, with the circuit boards melted and welded
together. He basically had to throw all that into the trash...it could
not be salvaged.

The fire department said it was a miracle his house didn't burn down.

The day I went to take my General Class exam over 10 years ago, just
as I stepped out the door (it was a good thing my hand wasn't on the
storm door), lightning hit the tree next to the building, and I heard
the static pop off the storm door in front of my apartment. I did
sustain some damage to the alarm system, but otherwise, I came out
unscathed. Yet, with every other apartment in my building, and adjacent buildings, people were taking electronics of every sort to the
dumpster...as the surge had spread out so, and it fried everything in
its path. One time, I saw lightning hit the metal grate in the sidewalk,
not 50 feet from my front door...and it shook the whole place. I'm glad
I had everything unplugged long before the storms arrived.

Each lightning bolt is 5 miles long, can strike from 20 to 200 miles
from the parent thunderstorm, is 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5 times
hotter than the suns surface), with 3 million volts, and 300,000 amps of electricity. In short, it's no contest...and with already being a 2 time lightning strike survivor, I don't want the third time to be "the
charm". I'd rather be offline a few hours or a few days, rather than permanently...never mind potentially being severely injured or killed.

To make matters worse now, as we enter Tornado Season...Arkansas is in
the eastern part of Tornado Alley, and the western part of Dixie
Alley...and most of our severe weather (especially tornadoes) is in the evenings and especially the overnight hours. I did many a Skywarn
Weather Net because of the storms...but I was on a backup power supply
as the storms moved through. But, around here, the first things that
crash when the weather goes bad, are the cell towers, and the internet.

Even the phone company says that "absolute protection from lightning
is impossible"...and the National Weather Service advises "during
thunderstorms or severe weather, unplug all devices not necessary to
receiving severe weather information...and if possible, that should be a battery operated NOAA Weather Radio, with S.A.M.E. warning
capabilities".

Others may want to press their luck, but I'd rather be safe than
sorry.

Daryl, WX1DER

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* OLX 1.53 * X-Modem: A modem on the losing end of a lightning strike.
* Synchronet * The Thunderbolt BBS - wx1der.dyndns.org
* Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)