Radio took a ESD hit?

[Captain Kilowatt]

Having worked in the military end of manufacturing I am extremely familiar with all of the processes surrounding ESD and sensitive electronics. Component failure is rare as long as the parts were properly handled from start to finish.
Before you even will feel a static discharge it has to reach about 750 volts.
That is many times the operating voltage of most solid state devices.
Parts that are not mounted on a PCB are the one at the most risk of damage.
Some of the circuits I worked on were tested with arcs from a hand held Tesla coil and they had FET's like the IRF150 installed.
During one "Dog and Pony show" the customer whipped out the handle held Tesla coil and proceeded to arc the entire PCB while it was operating. No problem at all.

Yes this is true. The most vulnerable components are those that are not installed yet. That's why they come in an anti-static bag and usually mounted on anti-static foam. The very high impedance of components like FETs allows LARGE voltages to build up before discharging thru the device and ruining it. If the OP had actually suffered an ESD from some fictitious reason like HAARP the front end of the radio would likely have been taken out as it is the most vulnerable with a direct connection to the antenna that picks up the pulse. I repaired a shortwave radio that had been hit by a static discharge that actually split the front end FET into two pieces. The clue as to what was wrong with it was when the owner said that the antenna connection touched the chassis when he disconnected it and he saw a spark. He waited until the storm was a little too close I guess.

 

[Cruiseomatic]

I'll be the first to admin, I don't know EVERYTHING about electronics or EMF. But, With the "symptoms" it did and how there were haarp rings over that area, I was just wildly putting two and two together. Since it wasn't EMD as many are saying, I'd sure like to know what did all this at once suddenly and hasn't returned yet....

 

[Tallman]

Since it wasn't EMD as many are saying, I'd sure like to know what did all this at once suddenly and hasn't returned yet....

You were most likely hit with a "High Power Primary Frequency Overload."
It does not matter if the signal was way outside of your operating range. If you are hit by high power radio waves it can cook your radio with no problem. It is almost like the EMP charge from a very large explosion.(Atomic Bomb Air Burst)

 

[Cruiseomatic]

Well, It didn't cook it. It just went really stupid for a while. Still works fine. Bizarre.