Ham Radio Forum

The S-Meter site was down approximately ten hours earlier today due to an aerial power-line lightning strike in the valley below at 3:47 AM local time. The strike traveled several miles along the aerial line and then followed an underground 7200 volt line up the side of the mountain toward the S-Meter site. It broke down the line insulation and arced to ground at a point about 100 meters below the S-Meter site and seven feet (2.13 meters) below the surface. I let the servers continue to run on back-up battery power for a while, but eventually decided to shut them down while the line was being repaired.

The buried power-line, all the servers, and all the other equipment at the S-Meter site are now back in normal operation.

-Bob