Of all the rotten luck, yesterday I was heading home and as I was cresting over a hill on the east end of Albuquerque before dropping down into the canyon, my semi-truck was struck by lightning. This caused the truck to shut off possibly by having the trucks ECM fried out among other things, and I was fortunate to get it off the roadway fast enough without the benefit of power steering. The truck had to be towed back into town since the whole ignition system was dead.
I don't believe I had a direct vertical hit but rather I got hit by the branches of current from the main discharge since I recall seeing more horizontal streaks going across my windshield. Either way, a brief terrifying experience.
After checking for any physical damage to my truck, my attention turned to my radio equipment. My HF radio and CB radio were on but I wasn't transmitting at the time. My Icom 7000 receives but has no power out on transmit and my CB radio blows fuses when trying to transmit. I verified this on my home station as well. My HF amplifier internal fuses blew so I will have to check later to see if at least my amp survived as well as some of my other HF accessories.
My HF screwdriver antenna appears to have no damage physically but on the CB antenna, the stainless steel whip was completely burned off and a corner cap on the a pl-259 elbow used at the CB antenna connection was blown out.
After this experience, from now on anytime I see lightening in the area, I will unplug the coax cables at the antennas. I now have to see if my insurance might cover this but I doubt it. Hopefully the Icom and the CB is repairable.
My question on the coax is since I believe the lightning current traveled down the coax, is this coax probably fried out to or should I replace it anyway? I was using RG213 for the HF and CB, and LMR 240 for the VHF/UHF which can withstand high current but from lightning strikes, I'm not sure.
I don't believe I had a direct vertical hit but rather I got hit by the branches of current from the main discharge since I recall seeing more horizontal streaks going across my windshield. Either way, a brief terrifying experience.
After checking for any physical damage to my truck, my attention turned to my radio equipment. My HF radio and CB radio were on but I wasn't transmitting at the time. My Icom 7000 receives but has no power out on transmit and my CB radio blows fuses when trying to transmit. I verified this on my home station as well. My HF amplifier internal fuses blew so I will have to check later to see if at least my amp survived as well as some of my other HF accessories.
My HF screwdriver antenna appears to have no damage physically but on the CB antenna, the stainless steel whip was completely burned off and a corner cap on the a pl-259 elbow used at the CB antenna connection was blown out.
After this experience, from now on anytime I see lightening in the area, I will unplug the coax cables at the antennas. I now have to see if my insurance might cover this but I doubt it. Hopefully the Icom and the CB is repairable.
My question on the coax is since I believe the lightning current traveled down the coax, is this coax probably fried out to or should I replace it anyway? I was using RG213 for the HF and CB, and LMR 240 for the VHF/UHF which can withstand high current but from lightning strikes, I'm not sure.
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