We seldom get thunderstorms here. Three in a year is many. But last weekend we were unlucky and had several thunderstorm from midnight till six in the morning. Unfortunately lighting did damage a VDSL (internet) cable in the neighbourhood and we discovered we had no TV on Sunday. After some modem resets our internet speed went down to only 4 Mbps. And after we called the internet provider who tested the cable remotely, we only had a speed of 2 Mbps. Right now the speed got down to 0,5 Mbps. Next week they will dig up the cable to fix the damage.
I was not the only radio amateur that had problems. Koos PE4KH also reported problems. But this was quickly resolved. I know from 3 other people here in the street they have the same problem with VDSL and TV.
I was glad lightning didn't strike my antenna tower. I think I was really lucky...
2 comments:
Good morning Bas, we get many storms like that here. It has been very humid over the past few days and thats when my Iphone will go off regarding incoming storms. I have a lightening tracker on my Iphone as well to show where he strikes are. I do head to the radio room to remove the antenna from the radio. I was thinking about getting a Alpha delta antenna switch so it would just be the turning of a switch to isolate the antenna.
73 and have a nice rest of the week.
Mike
VE9KK
Hello Mike, I have a similar app on my iPhone. An antennaswitch is an idea. But still there can be flash overs in such a switch. I see the Alpha Delta has an arc protection build in. Will it be protection enough? My highest antenna has no galvanic connection to the coax to the house. I have a MT-isolator between it. The rest of the antennas are protected by diamond CA-23R surge protectors. But actually I don't hope I will ever have a direct flash hitting my tower. Have a nice week Mike. 73, Bas
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