I had the new GPA behind the house up last week....
To make sure I had the best SWR and best signal, I use thick coax, and
left out the coupling piece I had that I used to disconnect in case
lighting was expected.
The weather report was good, with a drop of rain, and the sky was clear....
I went to sleep.
At 3.25 last night I woke up because of an incredible flash and BANG.
Thought "have to buy new gear now, pity..." hehe).
LOL
But nothing was smoking, counted seconds between flashes (more now),
it was overhead alright.
But my neighbor (50 meters away) has a higher mast.
Anyway, it started raining, usually there is enough conductive path then
for it not no strike, I went outside in pyamas, waited for a flash,
(clouds take time to charge up again) and cut the coax, folded it back,
so there was some meters separation.
Went to bed again, noticed I was wet...
Just now I put some connecters and a coupling piece, so that is fixed.
So, anyways the sky is clear and the sun shines, and the SWR is slightly
better now...
But now I am thinking 'lightning detector', I know these exist, was it not
a simple ferrite rod with a detector (for low frequencies)?
Does anyone here use these?
Good diagrams?
I should google anyways....

Anyways I made some other changes too, I am now running the set from a 12 Ah
12V gel battery,
It is charged continously with an AC/DC adapter, no large power supplies needed.
and I can use things when electricity fails, say in case of flooding.

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