I'm going to disagree with the popular but misplaced notion that when lightning hits nothing can be done to prevent damage other than a complete disconnect.
The real problem is almost always that people pepper the station with protection devices but use poor wiring layouts or poor entrance schemes. 99% of the protection is in the layout and bonding, not in the protection devices we throw into the system. I'm not saying you should not use protection devices, just that they are not anywhere near the solution. We have got to start thinking in terms of ground loops or common mode paths through the gear, and not depending on devices that let 700 volts in or out to protect solid state devices. It's the poor lead routing and ground bonding that really kills our gear. Especially when the power mains ground and the shack ground have any significant impedance between them. 73 Tom ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
