Be sure to have surge protection on phone/fax/data lines as well as mains
power.

My farm in far north Queensland, Australia (Lat 17s) has had three lightning
strikes in three years. All the damage (about $20,000) was done via
communication lines. The lightning hits the ground somewhere nearby and a
small fraction of the zap finds the nice cable and all these tasty
electronic bits to vaporise.

Power surge protectors have so far done their jobs saving the mains power
lines, but I haven't had a direct hit on a power line, yet.

You can get a mains isolator switch, which you just turn off when electrical
storms look likely. But you have to be there.

Here, if there is a westerly wind any afternoon from September to December,
we go around at about 3.00pm and turn off and disconnect all non-vital
electrical gear. It is the only way to save it from a direct hit. It's a
pain, but not too often (5-6 times a year) and it's definitely worth the
trouble if a storm turns up. A couple of times, for very big storms, we have
gone onto the diesel generator, not so much for power protection, but so
we're not left running around trying to start generators in the middle of a
major electrical storm.

At this stage of the game, however, it is most unlikely the LX200 would be
set up.

Another precaution is to have all our in-ground communication lines buried
1.5 metres (5 feet) with a 3mm (about 0.120") copper wire running above and
parallel to the line, about a metre (3 feet) below ground level. This is
heavily earthed and hopefully serves as a surge diverter.

Then, there's lightning rods, but they can cause problems too and so far I
have not gone that way.

All these things just add to your level of protection, but are not enough to
cope with a direct hit. If that happens, just be thankful you were somewhere
else when it happened.

Note too that insurance companies are good for one, maybe two, lightning
claims before they write you of and refuse further coverage.

Clear skies - and no thunderstorms.

Colin James

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