When I hear thunder, or I'm temporarily away from my XP Home computer and
thunder is predicted, I turn the system and UPS off and unplug the modem
telephone line. Overkill? Before I did this I lost the built-in modem to a
nearby lightning strike (I assume).

However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

What do you do?

TIA


--
You know it's time to clean the refrigerator
when something closes the door from the inside.

On Friday, January 8, 2016 at 11:01:33 AM UTC-6, KenK wrote:
When I hear thunder, or I'm temporarily away from my XP Home computer and
thunder is predicted, I turn the system and UPS off and unplug the modem
telephone line. Overkill? Before I did this I lost the built-in modem to a
nearby lightning strike (I assume).

However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

What do you do?

TIA


--
You know it's time to clean the refrigerator
when something closes the door from the inside.

When I had dial-up or DSL, I did the same as you. With cable...I rarely do anything. ¬_¬

bob_villain wrote:
On Friday, January 8, 2016 at 11:01:33 AM UTC-6, KenK wrote:
When I hear thunder, or I'm temporarily away from my XP Home computer and
thunder is predicted, I turn the system and UPS off and unplug the modem
telephone line. Overkill? Before I did this I lost the built-in modem to a
nearby lightning strike (I assume).

However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

What do you do?

TIA


--
You know it's time to clean the refrigerator
when something closes the door from the inside.

When I had dial-up or DSL, I did the same as you. With cable...I rarely do anything. ¬_¬

Are telephone lines overhead? Nothing overhead in my neighborhood.
I don't do anything when I hear thunder even my dog.

"KenK" wrote in message
...
When I hear thunder, or I'm temporarily away from my XP Home computer and
thunder is predicted, I turn the system and UPS off and unplug the modem
telephone line. Overkill? Before I did this I lost the built-in modem to a
nearby lightning strike (I assume).

However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

What do you do?


If I had telephone lines I would unplug them. Having cable modem I don't do
anything. I do stay away from anything connected to the power lines or
telephone lines. Switch to a wireless laptop and telephone if I want to use
them. Equipment can be replaced,but people are difficult to replace or
repair.

If you are going to turn off the computer, unplug it. Off or on will
seldom make much difference.

Sofar I have been lucky. Seldom if ever have I unplugged anything except
the telephone line to the modem when I had dialup. Never lost anyting much
in the houses I have lived in from 1970. During a storm a transformer blew
out that fed a house I lived in. It did take out 2 surge strips and a built
in oven electronic control. The oven only burnt out a circuit board trace
and a MOV protector.

At the last house I lived in had a ham radio tower that was about 50 feet to
the top antenna and this house has one that is about 70 feet to the top.
Been lucky so far on that as I have not lost any radio equipment either.

On 1/8/16 12:08 PM, bob_villain wrote:
On Friday, January 8, 2016 at 11:01:33 AM UTC-6, KenK wrote:
When I hear thunder, or I'm temporarily away from my XP Home computer and
thunder is predicted, I turn the system and UPS off and unplug the modem
telephone line. Overkill? Before I did this I lost the built-in modem to a
nearby lightning strike (I assume).

However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

What do you do?

TIA


--
You know it's time to clean the refrigerator
when something closes the door from the inside.

When I had dial-up or DSL, I did the same as you. With cable...I rarely do anything. ¬_¬


Guess your cable provider uses those new lightning-proof lines rather
than the conventional lightning-magnet wires the phone company favors;-)

--
With all this “gun control” talk, I haven’t heard one politician say how
they plan to take guns away from criminals and terrorists— just from law
abiding citizens…

Per Wade Garrett:
Guess your cable provider uses those new lightning-proof lines rather
than the conventional lightning-magnet wires the phone company favors;-)

I don't know for sure, but I *think* my cable provider (Verizon FIOS)
uses fiber optic lines.... which, AFIK, do not conduct electricity and
are therefore immune to lightning strikes.

So I don't do anything - unless it's one of those really-violent
thunderstorms and then I'll pull a few plugs until it passes.

Rightly or wrongly, my main concern is a strike to one of my TV antennas
propagating through the connected tuners into my LAN and/or taking out
my TV.
--
Pete Cresswell

"Wade Garrett" wrote in message
...
When I had dial-up or DSL, I did the same as you. With cable...I rarely
do anything. ¬_¬


Guess your cable provider uses those new lightning-proof lines rather than
the conventional lightning-magnet wires the phone company favors;-)


I don't know what it is about telephone lines, but they do seem to attract
lightning damage. Up on the top of a hill I had a ham radio repeater with a
120 foot tower in a building that was about 6 foot square. In about 30 years
one power supply burnt out a diode for the repeater during a storm. However
the part that went to a telephone line would go out every 2 or 3 years
before I pust a lot of differnet types of protection on it. Then I had to
replace the protection every 2 or 3 years. As there was a 300 foot tower
about 300 feet away from my tower, I think it helped protect from lightning.

On Friday, January 8, 2016 at 12:32:06 PM UTC-5, Ralph Mowery wrote:

...snip...

At the last house I lived in had a ham radio tower that was about 50 feet to
the top antenna and this house has one that is about 70 feet to the top.
Been lucky so far on that as I have not lost any radio equipment either.

When I was in the Coast Guard in Alaska, lighting hit the 1/4 mile high
LORAN tower. Since I was transmitter tech at the time, and spent most of
my days working in the transmitter building which was at the base of the
tower, I had the pleasure of repairing the damage to the transmitter that
was on-air at the time as well as the dummy load that the standby transmitter
was connected to.

The dummy load and final transformer assembly were housed in the same
cabinet for ease of switching between the 2 transmitters. When the
lightening blew up - and I mean BLEW UP - the final transformer assembly,
the shrapnel took out the dummy load resistor bank. What didn't get
pulverized melted in the resulting fire.

The worst thing that a LORAN transmitter technician can experience
is silence in the transmitter building. All stations have 2 transmitters,
which are swapped every 2 weeks - on-air/standby, back and forth. When
performing preventive maintenance on the standby transmitter, it is always
supposed to be available within one hour. (One *minute* of off-air time ruins
a "perfect month". "Perfect months", especially consecutive perfect months,
were the goal of any LORAN station. We received a ribbon for 7 consecutive
perfect months when I was stationed in Germany.)

Anyway, silence in the transmitter building means that your on-air transmitter
is down and that the standby isn't ready. It's a eerie, uncomfortable feeling.
We were silent for 4 days while we repaired the equipment. Our radio
transmissions didn't have the comforting tick-tick-tick of the LORAN signal
in the background, the scopes in the monitor room weren't glowing with
the signal's familiar envelope, etc. The only good part (OK, it's weird) is
that I had the opportunity to walk up to the tower and touch it. That is
not something that you can do when it's pumping out a mega-watt of signal.

We used to stand near the tower with 4' florescent tubes and have them
light up in our hands. You could hold one end of the tube with one hand
and slide the light up and down the tube with the other.

On 01/08/2016 11:01 AM, KenK wrote:
When I hear thunder, or I'm temporarily away from my XP Home computer and
thunder is predicted, I turn the system and UPS off and unplug the modem
telephone line. Overkill? Before I did this I lost the built-in modem to a
nearby lightning strike (I assume).

When I was using POTS modems, I noticed the modem was damaged by
electrical transients much more often that anything else. That's one
reason for preferring an external modem. It's more separated from the
rest of the PC.

However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

What do you do?

TIA




--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Beware of the man whose God is in the skies." [George Bernard Shaw]

On 1/8/2016 12:01 PM, KenK wrote:
When I hear thunder, or I'm temporarily away from my XP Home computer and
thunder is predicted, I turn the system and UPS off and unplug the modem
telephone line. Overkill? Before I did this I lost the built-in modem to a
nearby lightning strike (I assume).

However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

What do you do?

TIA



If it is close, I shut it down. Couple of years ago there was a
lightning strike near me. It entered by a light fixture on the detached
garage and took out a receptacle, circuit breaker, TV, receiver, doorbell.

On 1/8/16 12:43 PM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Wade Garrett:
Guess your cable provider uses those new lightning-proof lines rather
than the conventional lightning-magnet wires the phone company favors;-)

I don't know for sure, but I *think* my cable provider (Verizon FIOS)
uses fiber optic lines.... which, AFIK, do not conduct electricity and
are therefore immune to lightning strikes.

So I don't do anything - unless it's one of those really-violent
thunderstorms and then I'll pull a few plugs until it passes.

Rightly or wrongly, my main concern is a strike to one of my TV antennas
propagating through the connected tuners into my LAN and/or taking out
my TV.


Yeah but thunder and lightning are usually accompanied by rain which
makes for wet cables...which conduct electricity.

--
I’m so old I can remember when other people's achievements were
considered to be an inspiration rather than a grievance.
— Thomas Sowell

On 01/08/2016 09:01 AM, KenK wrote:
When I hear thunder, or I'm temporarily away from my XP Home computer and
thunder is predicted, I turn the system and UPS off and unplug the modem
telephone line. Overkill? Before I did this I lost the built-in modem to a
nearby lightning strike (I assume).

However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

What do you do?

If it's close and I'm home I shut down and unplug everything.

Jon

On 8 Jan 2016 17:01:28 GMT, KenK wrote:

When I hear thunder, or I'm temporarily away from my XP Home computer and
thunder is predicted, I turn the system and UPS off and unplug the modem
telephone line. Overkill? Before I did this I lost the built-in modem to a
nearby lightning strike (I assume).

However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

What do you do?

TIA
I don't do anything and we have a thunderstorm just about every day
for 6 months of the year.
I have good surge protection just like those businesses you speak of.
My group used to design it for folks in Florida

On 01/08/2016 10:01 AM, KenK wrote:
However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

UPS. Not only do they protect the equipment during brief interruptions
but they filter most transients. Even the transient protector strips are
better than nothing although the MOVs may be undersized.

On 01/08/2016 12:50 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
We used to stand near the tower with 4' florescent tubes and have them
light up in our hands. You could hold one end of the tube with one hand
and slide the light up and down the tube with the other.


We made RF preheaters and one of the quick and dirty tests for the
shielding was waving a fluorescent tube taped to a broomstick around the
cavity.

The cavity where the material was heated had holes drilled in a
hexagonal pattern both for ventilation and so you could look inside when
it was on. For illumination, there were standard 6" fluorescent tubes in
battery holders screwed to the aluminum walls. The fun part was watching
plant maintenance electricians who didn't know much about RF scratch
they heads while figuring out why the tubes lit without being connected
to anything.

On Friday, January 8, 2016 at 9:38:35 PM UTC-5, rbowman wrote:
On 01/08/2016 12:50 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
We used to stand near the tower with 4' florescent tubes and have them
light up in our hands. You could hold one end of the tube with one hand
and slide the light up and down the tube with the other.


We made RF preheaters and one of the quick and dirty tests for the
shielding was waving a fluorescent tube taped to a broomstick around the
cavity.

The cavity where the material was heated had holes drilled in a
hexagonal pattern both for ventilation and so you could look inside when
it was on. For illumination, there were standard 6" fluorescent tubes in
battery holders screwed to the aluminum walls. The fun part was watching
plant maintenance electricians who didn't know much about RF scratch
they heads while figuring out why the tubes lit without being connected
to anything.

Another fun thing to do was to hold a safety meeting for the newbies on the
station and "explain" why they should never go into the transmitter building
without a transmitter tech.

We would bring one of the large oil filled capacitors and a hi-pot machine into
the mess hall and charge the cap up to 2 to 3K VDC. Then we'd turn off the
lights and use a dead man stick to short out the cap. The resulting Crack! and
spark was enough to scare the crap out of most of the newbies. After they
calmed down we let them know that the transmitters ran on voltages that were
about 8 times what we had just used. "Stay out of the T-building unless one of us
is with you."

One time we got a little carried away. We charged the cap up just a little too much
and when I shorted it out it blew the threaded metal rod out of the wooden handle
and broke the braided grounding strap. The rod and strap went clanging across
the tile floor and I almost crapped my pants like a newbie! It was pretty impressive.

On 8 Jan 2016 17:01:28 GMT, KenK wrote:

When I hear thunder, or I'm temporarily away from my XP Home computer and
thunder is predicted, I turn the system and UPS off and unplug the modem
telephone line. Overkill? Before I did this I lost the built-in modem to a
nearby lightning strike (I assume).

However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

What do you do?

TIA
My home cpmputers and all the computers at both businesses I service
stay on. My home computers, 24/7/365.

All 3 (home and both major customers) are on underground services and
2 are on cable.

On 1/8/2016 10:01 AM, KenK wrote:
When I hear thunder, or I'm temporarily away from my XP Home computer and
thunder is predicted, I turn the system and UPS off and unplug the modem
telephone line. Overkill? Before I did this I lost the built-in modem to a
nearby lightning strike (I assume).

However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

What do you do?

A lot depends on how the services (phone, electric, etc.) get to/into your
house. The rest depends on the proximity of any strikes! :

Here, our services are entirely below grade (we don't even have street lights)
so we see very little ill effects from storms. I have ~15 (?) PC's plugged in
all the time (usually behind outlet strips or UPS's) with at least 3 running
at any given moment. Five printers, four scanners, 9 monitors plus a slew
of oddball "peripherals".

And, that doesn't count the TV's and other bits of kit littered around the
house.

Only time I can recall a problem was living in Denver with overhead
services. A nearby lightning strike (close enough to "magnetize"
the TV!) fried the protection diodes in the no-name telephone.
(aside from the TV needing a wicked degaussing, nothing else in the
house was affected)

KenK expressed precisely :
When I hear thunder, or I'm temporarily away from my XP Home computer and
thunder is predicted, I turn the system and UPS off and unplug the modem
telephone line. Overkill? Before I did this I lost the built-in modem to a
nearby lightning strike (I assume).

However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

What do you do?

TIA

I unplug My power to My radio equipment, and unplug the coax.

Wade Garrett posted for all of us...


Yeah but thunder and lightning are usually accompanied by rain which
makes for wet cables...which conduct electricity.


But aren't dry cables supposed to conduct electricity?

--
Tekkie

On Sat, 9 Jan 2016 16:57:46 -0500, Tekkie® wrote:

Wade Garrett posted for all of us...


Yeah but thunder and lightning are usually accompanied by rain which
makes for wet cables...which conduct electricity.


But aren't dry cables supposed to conduct electricity?

Dry lightning ?

On 1/9/16 4:57 PM, Tekkie® wrote:
Wade Garrett posted for all of us...


Yeah but thunder and lightning are usually accompanied by rain which
makes for wet cables...which conduct electricity.


But aren't dry cables supposed to conduct electricity?


I was responding to Mr Cresswell who said he believed he had fiber optic
cables and didn't think they conducted electricity. My point was that
during a rainstorm when the rubber or plastic covered cable was covered
with water, it was a conductor.

--
Remember: An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.

On Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 6:08:47 PM UTC-5, Oren wrote:
On Sat, 9 Jan 2016 16:57:46 -0500, Tekkie® wrote:

Wade Garrett posted for all of us...


Yeah but thunder and lightning are usually accompanied by rain which
makes for wet cables...which conduct electricity.


But aren't dry cables supposed to conduct electricity?

Dry lightning ?

Dry heaving?

Dry humping?

On Sat, 9 Jan 2016 18:45:16 -0500, Wade Garrett
wrote:

On 1/9/16 4:57 PM, Tekkie® wrote:
Wade Garrett posted for all of us...


Yeah but thunder and lightning are usually accompanied by rain which
makes for wet cables...which conduct electricity.


But aren't dry cables supposed to conduct electricity?


I was responding to Mr Cresswell who said he believed he had fiber optic
cables and didn't think they conducted electricity. My point was that
during a rainstorm when the rubber or plastic covered cable was covered
with water, it was a conductor.

There still should not be a path to your equipment but most surges are
really induced transients anyway so that is not an issue.

If you start with a good grounding system and ground all of your surge
protection (on every wire that comes into the house) to a single point
in that grounding system, you eliminate virtually all of the surges.
Some point of use protection that combines protection of all
conductors at the equipment will do the rest.
It gets more complicated if you are dealing with a big campus and a
number of interconnected buildings but the concepts are the same.

On 1/9/2016 7:05 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
Yeah but thunder and lightning are usually accompanied by rain which
makes for wet cables...which conduct electricity.


But aren't dry cables supposed to conduct electricity?

Dry lightning ?

Dry heaving?

Dry humping?


Dry run?
Dry sense of humor?

--
..
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
.. www.lds.org
..
..

On 8 Jan 2016 17:01:28 GMT, KenK wrote:

When I hear thunder, or I'm temporarily away from my XP Home computer and
thunder is predicted, I turn the system and UPS off and unplug the modem
telephone line. Overkill? Before I did this I lost the built-in modem to a
nearby lightning strike (I assume).

However most businesses and many other systems are left on durng storms
evidently with no problems.

What do you do?

TIA

I've probably lost at least 10 modems over the years from lightning.
Some were even killed when my computer and modem turned off. I began
unplugging the phone line at all times when the modem is not in use, and
shutting off the computer whenever I hear thunder coming close. Three
years ago, I lost one, just because I was loading the weather reports
when I should have shut off the system sooner.

I'm in the country, and at the end of the power and phone lines. I have
everything well grounded. I only have dialup via buried copper wire. I
now know that there is no solution except unplugging the phone line.
Those modems just cant handle the surges. I have never had a phone or
answering machine ruined.

My biggest problem is remembering to unplug it. Sometimes I forget and
am not home when a storm hits.... However I have been pretty good at
unplugging it these days, automatically whenever I shut off the
computer.

In my opinion, those surge protectors are worthless for lightning.

On Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 7:36:31 PM UTC-5, Stormin Mormon wrote:
On 1/9/2016 7:05 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
Yeah but thunder and lightning are usually accompanied by rain which
makes for wet cables...which conduct electricity.


But aren't dry cables supposed to conduct electricity?

Dry lightning ?

Dry heaving?

Dry humping?


Dry run?
Dry sense of humor?

Kenmore Dry-er?

On Sat, 09 Jan 2016 18:42:40 -0600, wrote:

In my opinion, those surge protectors are worthless for lightning.

Might be why you lost "10 modems", Home Gay. You learn slow.

On 1/9/2016 7:57 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 7:36:31 PM UTC-5, Stormin Mormon wrote:


But aren't dry cables supposed to conduct electricity?

Dry lightning ?

Dry heaving?

Dry humping?


Dry run?
Dry sense of humor?

Kenmore Dry-er?


I block the most zany posters on this list.
Helps me to keep my cool. And that's a
filter drier.

(Uncle Monster can help explain that double
entendre.)



--
..
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
.. www.lds.org
..
..

On 1/9/2016 7:42 PM, wrote:
I'm in the country, and at the end of the power and phone lines. I have
everything well grounded. I only have dialup via buried copper wire. I
now know that there is no solution except unplugging the phone line.
Those modems just cant handle the surges. I have never had a phone or
answering machine ruined.

My biggest problem is remembering to unplug it. Sometimes I forget and
am not home when a storm hits.... However I have been pretty good at
unplugging it these days, automatically whenever I shut off the
computer.

In my opinion, those surge protectors are worthless for lightning.


In today's post modem society, replacements
must be inexpensive. I have at least one
modem on the shelf I can't stand to throw
away. Though I doubt i'll need it again.


--
..
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
.. www.lds.org
..
..

On Sat, 9 Jan 2016 20:26:25 -0500, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 1/9/2016 7:42 PM, wrote:
I'm in the country, and at the end of the power and phone lines. I have
everything well grounded. I only have dialup via buried copper wire. I
now know that there is no solution except unplugging the phone line.
Those modems just cant handle the surges. I have never had a phone or
answering machine ruined.

My biggest problem is remembering to unplug it. Sometimes I forget and
am not home when a storm hits.... However I have been pretty good at
unplugging it these days, automatically whenever I shut off the
computer.

In my opinion, those surge protectors are worthless for lightning.


In today's post modem society, replacements
must be inexpensive. I have at least one
modem on the shelf I can't stand to throw
away. Though I doubt i'll need it again.
Surge protectors are not very usefull for a direct lightning strike,
but they will protect quite effectively against induced surges from
near misses (or even long distance misses) which used to kill modems
regularly. Later modems were a LOT more resistant to those induced
spikes.

On Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 8:32:13 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sat, 9 Jan 2016 20:26:25 -0500, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 1/9/2016 7:42 PM, wrote:
I'm in the country, and at the end of the power and phone lines. I have
everything well grounded. I only have dialup via buried copper wire. I
now know that there is no solution except unplugging the phone line.
Those modems just cant handle the surges. I have never had a phone or
answering machine ruined.

My biggest problem is remembering to unplug it. Sometimes I forget and
am not home when a storm hits.... However I have been pretty good at
unplugging it these days, automatically whenever I shut off the
computer.

In my opinion, those surge protectors are worthless for lightning.


In today's post modem society, replacements
must be inexpensive. I have at least one
modem on the shelf I can't stand to throw
away. Though I doubt i'll need it again.
Surge protectors are not very usefull for a direct lightning strike,
but they will protect quite effectively against induced surges from
near misses (or even long distance misses) which used to kill modems
regularly. Later modems were a LOT more resistant to those induced
spikes.

Unrelated technology changes or spike specific design improvement?

DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 8:32:13 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sat, 9 Jan 2016 20:26:25 -0500, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 1/9/2016 7:42 PM, wrote:
I'm in the country, and at the end of the power and phone lines. I have
everything well grounded. I only have dialup via buried copper wire. I
now know that there is no solution except unplugging the phone line.
Those modems just cant handle the surges. I have never had a phone or
answering machine ruined.

My biggest problem is remembering to unplug it. Sometimes I forget and
am not home when a storm hits.... However I have been pretty good at
unplugging it these days, automatically whenever I shut off the
computer.

In my opinion, those surge protectors are worthless for lightning.


In today's post modem society, replacements
must be inexpensive. I have at least one
modem on the shelf I can't stand to throw
away. Though I doubt i'll need it again.
Surge protectors are not very usefull for a direct lightning strike,
but they will protect quite effectively against induced surges from
near misses (or even long distance misses) which used to kill modems
regularly. Later modems were a LOT more resistant to those induced
spikes.

Unrelated technology changes or spike specific design improvement?

Thunder has nothing to do killing modem. Lightning is. Analog vs.
digital? Post modem? What does that mean? Talking about early acoustic
modem at like 300 baud? If you get direct hit, pretty well every thing
is toast.

On Sat, 9 Jan 2016 18:11:46 -0800 (PST), DerbyDad03
wrote:

On Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 8:32:13 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sat, 9 Jan 2016 20:26:25 -0500, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 1/9/2016 7:42 PM, wrote:
I'm in the country, and at the end of the power and phone lines. I have
everything well grounded. I only have dialup via buried copper wire. I
now know that there is no solution except unplugging the phone line.
Those modems just cant handle the surges. I have never had a phone or
answering machine ruined.

My biggest problem is remembering to unplug it. Sometimes I forget and
am not home when a storm hits.... However I have been pretty good at
unplugging it these days, automatically whenever I shut off the
computer.

In my opinion, those surge protectors are worthless for lightning.


In today's post modem society, replacements
must be inexpensive. I have at least one
modem on the shelf I can't stand to throw
away. Though I doubt i'll need it again.
Surge protectors are not very usefull for a direct lightning strike,
but they will protect quite effectively against induced surges from
near misses (or even long distance misses) which used to kill modems
regularly. Later modems were a LOT more resistant to those induced
spikes.

Unrelated technology changes or spike specific design improvement?
I would say a combination. The design of modems using large scale
Integrated circuits instead of discrete circuitry likely helped., but
they added much better surge protection on the boards as well.

"software modems" which offloaded a lot of processing from the modem
to the computer may have also helped.

On Sat, 09 Jan 2016 18:42:40 -0600, wrote:


I've probably lost at least 10 modems over the years from lightning.
Some were even killed when my computer and modem turned off. I began
unplugging the phone line at all times when the modem is not in use, and
shutting off the computer whenever I hear thunder coming close. Three
years ago, I lost one, just because I was loading the weather reports
when I should have shut off the system sooner.

I'm in the country, and at the end of the power and phone lines. I have
everything well grounded. I only have dialup via buried copper wire. I
now know that there is no solution except unplugging the phone line.
Those modems just cant handle the surges. I have never had a phone or
answering machine ruined.

My biggest problem is remembering to unplug it. Sometimes I forget and
am not home when a storm hits.... However I have been pretty good at
unplugging it these days, automatically whenever I shut off the
computer.

In my opinion, those surge protectors are worthless for lightning.

I wonder if there is some sort of auto disconnect that would
unhook the phone line. Could it tied into a light switch, for
example? There must be something available with all these wireless
gizmos nowadays.


--
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"Dean Hoffman" wrote in message
newsp.yaz5mhax6w0fur@deans-air...
I wonder if there is some sort of auto disconnect that would
unhook the phone line. Could it tied into a light switch, for
example? There must be something available with all these wireless
gizmos nowadays.


When lightning travels over 1000 feet in the air, a simple short throw
switch is not going to do much.

Just turning off a device is almost no protection. It must be unpluged and
the plug moved away from the source.

On 1/9/2016 9:17 PM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Dean Hoffman" wrote in message
newsp.yaz5mhax6w0fur@deans-air...
I wonder if there is some sort of auto disconnect that would
unhook the phone line. Could it tied into a light switch, for
example? There must be something available with all these wireless
gizmos nowadays.

When lightning travels over 1000 feet in the air, a simple short throw
switch is not going to do much.

Just turning off a device is almost no protection. It must be unpluged and
the plug moved away from the source.

No, it really only needs to be farther than the next lower impedance
path. Like the issue of being chased by a bear in the woods: you
don't need to be able to outrun the BEAR, you just need to be able
to outrun at least ONE of your COMPANIONS! ;-)

On Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 7:24:47 PM UTC-6, Stormin Mormon wrote:
On 1/9/2016 7:57 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 7:36:31 PM UTC-5, Stormin Mormon wrote:

But aren't dry cables supposed to conduct electricity?

Dry lightning ?

Dry heaving?

Dry humping?

Dry run?
Dry sense of humor?

Kenmore Dry-er?

I block the most zany posters on this list.
Helps me to keep my cool. And that's a
filter drier.

(Uncle Monster can help explain that double
entendre.)
--
.
I'm sorry, was this a discussion about refrigeration and HVAC? Š™.˜‰

[8~{} Uncle Desiccant Monster

Best defense is to unplug.
If you can't do that, next best is a
combined surge protection device
that combines the phone line and power line so
that they share the same protection ground as the PC.
This minimizes the transient difference
between the power line and thehone line.
M

Best defense is to unplug.
If you can't do that, next best is a
combined surge protection device
that combines the phone line and power line so
that they share the same protection ground as the PC.
This minimizes the transient difference
between the power line and thehone line.
M