On Sun, 16 Apr 2017 14:12:17 -0700
Larry Jaques wrote:

snip
A switch just acts as a resistor and the arc jumps it easily, I'm
sure. I'm happy to say that I have no experience with lightning
except to be thrilled by the displays as a kid in Little Rock, AR when
the huge thunderstorms rolled by. And during a trip from Phoenix to
Tucson once, we saw heat lightning galore. The news that night said
it had started 119 forest fires in the hills on each side of I-10, the
freeway we had just driven down. That's as close as I'd like to get,
thanks. Did you ever have to work on said equipment during a storm?
cringe

Yeah, pretty sure it just jumps the switch, looking for the ground
connection. I hated lightning storms. Usually made for long days, odd
hours and a lot of chasing your tail around troubleshooting.

I wouldn't say have to but I did work at tower sites during storms. I
didn't normally climb towers either. Happened to be ~100 ft up one
checking an antenna one time when a storm rolled in. Always a
guessing game but I felt the odds for getting done and down were in my
favor

Had lightning hit the 120 ft tower at the shop once while we were
working. The radio equipment was in the corner of the garage area. I
happened to be in the garage when it hit. Nice "KERRZZITT" from the
corner where the equipment was and some flashes like arc welding. Then
the deafening "BOOM". We didn't have to go far for that "service"
call...

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
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