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FRIENDS HOUSE DIRECT LIGHTNING STRIKE

Sonar

Sr. Member
Apr 8, 2016
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I probably should have posted this in the announcements area but thought it important (and interesting) to show how dangerous lightning can be. Most of us probably already understand the dangers but until God forbid it happens to you or someone you know it's difficult to truly grasp how damaging is. I'd say on a whole it probably affects our hobby more than any other. My friend lives in North Carolina and posted these pictures and description of a direct lightning strike to his home:

I now have a new respect for lightning. My house took a hit last night and you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a piece of your wall go past you trailing smoke and getting blown off the couch by it. You will definitely not see me outside during lightning storms anymore.
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Been through 2. Never had outlets blown out the wall.. damn son. I did however have grounding that took the brunt. Some hobbies have hazards.. when you drag race you never know what could happen.. riding horses same thing... radio comes with it's own risks.. lightning, falling off the tower/roof ect..
 
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Holy crap.

I’m one of those get in the shower during a storm type guys. I cut grass in the rain, I ain’t scared.

That right there though, I’ve never seen before. I imagine there’s a lot messed up in your house, isn’t there?
 
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Holy crap.

I’m one of those get in the shower during a storm type guys. I cut grass in the rain, I ain’t scared.

That right there though, I’ve never seen before. I imagine there’s a lot messed up in your house, isn’t there?
I believe in global warming. I am totally convinced that global warming is what's causing so much strange weather in places that normally don't experience certain types of weather phenomena. I can't tell you how many tornado warnings we've had in South Jersey over the past month. Those tornado warnings also stream across the television screen in New York. That's something that definitely did not happen 20 years ago. Tornadoes wear something that happened in Kansas. Tropical storms with something that happened down south. Global warming has brought that type of weather phenomenon up to the Northeast. There's also been and absorbent amount of flooding in my area. I've lived here for approximately 10 years and over those years have noticed storms of every kind and especially flooding becoming normal place. Mabd apocalypse written about in the BibleMay doesn't happen in one fell swoop. Maybe it happens gradually. Maybe the Apocalypse is currently being televised.
 
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A customer was in the shower when a stroke hit the next-door neighbor's electric service mast. Said this blew their electric meter out into the yard, and set the neighbor's siding on fire.

At that moment he felt "a hell of a jolt", but was otherwise unharmed.

Except for the metallic taste in his mouth. Took a few days to fade away.

His radio was a mess.

73
 
A customer was in the shower when a stroke hit the next-door neighbor's electric service mast. Said this blew their electric meter out into the yard, and set the neighbor's siding on fire.

At that moment he felt "a hell of a jolt", but was otherwise unharmed.

Except for the metallic taste in his mouth. Took a few days to fade away.

His radio was a mess.

73
Although I've been supid enough to use my statiio during a storm I always remove the pl259 from the station to the antenna when the station isn't being used..
I know that's a contradiction.
Once I'm back on the air I plan on never operating during rain or lightning ever again! After being without a station and the work it's going to take in order to get back on the air it's definitely not worth operating in those conditions. Ever! As I mentioned it was STUPID! Live and learn. Losing equipment that can be replaced is dumb enough but losing my life versus equipment that can be replaced is just outright idiotic!!!!!!! I will never play with lightning again.
A side note. Three neighborhood teenagers were swimming at either Coney Island or Brighton during a passing storm. A bolt of lightning struck the water very close to where the kids were fooling around in the water. One or two of the boys were killed (it happened about 25 years ago.) One of the boys who were killed happened to be the cousin of a friend. I latter found out the gold chain holding a crucifixion he was wearing melted into his skin. lightning is a fearce force of nature, and should be respected as such. It took a lightning bolt to blasted my friend off his couch in order for me to realize what I already knew. And that's lightning is deadly. I could think of a thousand ways id leave this planet and being struck by lightning isn't one of them. Lightning is one bad mofo!!
 
Sonar...sorry about your friends house. I'm also in NC. I've never had any major issues with lightning but know people that have. Years ago I did have a Shakespeare Big Stick fiberglass antenna zapped by lightning. It is a common thing here in Central NC and has been as long as I can remember. I have 75 years of memory stored but have probably lost some of it. o_O

Decades ago lightning struck in the yard of one of my aunt's home. It ran into her house on the septic tank line and blew her tub, sinks, and commode into pieces. All of the electrical wiring, outlets, etc. were zapped.

Couple I know were on a lake really close to where I live...5-miles from me. Their two sons and and a daughter were in the boat as well. Sudden storm came up and lightning struck the boat. Both sons were killed.

Friend of mine was in his basement barefooted on a concrete floor when lightning struck the ground in his yard. It knocked him down and his wife found him unconscious. He was still breathing. EMT's took him to hospital. He survived.

I know numerous people that have lost TV's, computers, etc. to lightning. It is a scary thing.
 
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I had a lightning hit my Imax that was about 48ft high back in 2017 in Houston. The strike also messed pu my 142gtl base radio 2 flat screen tv seemed up a few inputs took out a wireless router and screwed up a cable tv booster in the attic. Other than these thing it did no major damage to the house.
 
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A story from the 1970s had both Dallas pro golfer Lee Trevino and Chi Chi Rodriguez on the course when a terrific storm blew in.

Rodriguez was equally scared of cowering under a tree and being in the open.

Trevino noted that, and took a 1-iron from his bag, held it high. Right out in the open.

Rodriguez holleted, “Man, are you nuts?”

Trevino calmly replied, “Nothing to worry about. We’re safe now. Even God can’t hit a 1-iron”.


A good thunderstorm is great entertainment. From indoors.

Last time I was crossing a rock slide above the tree line in Colorado and a storm came in I was determined to ONLY be in shelter from thereon. Watching. Not “experiencing”.

Sorta like tornadoes. The alarm goes off and I’m staying put in my aluminum space capsule. Will. Die. Warm. Dry. That f’n alarm is so loud I’ll never know what else happened.

Overkill on bonds/grounds sounds like the first job for the mast. (“What antenna? Oh, yeah, I’ll get around to figuring out which one to buy”).

.
 

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