Apparently they aren't loading for me either.

Lightning rods would be pretty much a must for a mountain top house.

As for how they work, lightning rods actually can prevent lighting from striking by bleeding off potential before it accumulates enough to jump (up or down, your choice).

Grounding for lightning rods is very specific. Very large copper cabling attached to several ground rods driven deeply into the ground. If in a dry climate the rods are often driven into the same place roof downspouts discharge so the ground can be wet and more conductive.

There's a whole science to lighting rods. Obviously at the top of a structure but spacing is important to in order to provide the protective "umbrella".

A lot of lightning damage can occur not from the actual "bolt" but from the "explosion" caused by the super heated air created as well as from flying material from items actually hit.


Lightning is real scary when camping in a travel trailer. During my trip early in October it was striking the campground at the NRA Whittington Center where I was staying in Raton, NM (The big gun range). Must have struck at least a half dozen times at various points nearby, one so close the flash and report were simultaneous.

Luckily they were prepared. Even though power went out several times no computer issues. It did knock some nearby TV Station Repeaters offline for the rest of the week though.

Selador-

How's your homeowner's insurance? Computer damage should be an insured event.

Put a DeLorean out on the lawn.

Took me 0.5µs........hahahahahhahaaha

LOL!
Hell I just might ask Jeff to visit during summer months, I'll pitch a tent for him complete with a 20 ft "Cell phone tower".

You are a bad man Brian.

First, I'm glad you didn't get fried. Second, I didn't know caves had windows.

Which is usually a copper rod just on the other side of the wall from your circuit breaker box


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bhdgxmii-c

Should also be a ground at cable and phone "terminal boxes". If not with their own ground rods, a good sized piece of bare copper wire from them to the nearest ground rod.

GREAT SCOTT!!!

I'm going by your way soon. Let me know if you need anything odds or ends. I seem collect bits of bits.

I'm baaaaack!!!!

Got the whole internet thingy figgered out... Got a couple hours online. Went to bed because I was just too tired...

Woke up the next morning, to a tree on my property falling across the power and telly line.

They had the power restored in about 9 hours.

Phone and internet... Restored maybe 20 minutes ago.

After 4 days, I was jonseing for some interwebbythingy stuff.


Got way too much to catch up on now, to post any more. I'll try to come back and catch up later.

I do have more info about the lightning.

Ok, still no pictures. Nothing worth taking pictures of. (Unless I decide to take the modem apart and see if there's evidence of the flash bang explosion that occurred there.)

On thursday morning, lightning struck twice. This is what actually happened...



Lightning hit one of the many trees that surround my house. In the same instant, it struck the tree, and a bit of it reached far enough down to strike the roof of my house.

My house is surrounded by very tall trees. It does not have a metal roof. So it was confusing, when trying to figure out how in the world it would hit my roof, instead of the trees. This explanation makes the most sense.

The tiny bit of the jolt that was left, by the time it reached my roof, was probably attracted to the only metal up there, which is a motion sensor flood light, just under the roof, where it hit. The light is apparently unaffected. But that is the area where the sound of the strike on the roof actually came from.



The second strike came 3 to 5 minutes later. Again, it didn't do exactly what I thought it did.

That strike hit a 'box' on the telephone line, across the road from my neighbor. My side of the road, but directly across from him.

I am about 500 or 600 feet from there.

He saw a huge flash at the box, then heard what sounded like two shotgun blasts. Then the thunder.

My phone guy has marveled for years about my having the strongest grounded system he has ever seen.

Apparently my neighbor cannot say the same. Which, in this case, meant that I bore the brunt of the strike. But in everyday circumstances means I have the stronger and therefore faster connection. LOL

The modem is right at the window. Exactly where I saw the flash, and thought lightning had come through the window.

What really happened is that it came in on the telephone line. 'Sploded the modem. And made a big noise, and lots of electric burning smell.

It has also affected this computer. The network hardware doesn't work at all. The net card that I tried to use, has a conflict with my graphics card. So the monitors stayed black. Never got a signal. Take the card back out, the computer operates again. Well, mostly.

I obtained a connection by using an external adapter. You plug the cat5 into the adapter. Then you plug the adapter into a USB port. Network card is built into the adapter. Seems to be working well. Even faster than what was built into the computer in the first place.

As for the "mostly" part...

There are some little quirks here and there. There are some keys on the keyboard that no longer work. Like the "prtscrn" button. Not the keyboard's fault. It's wireless, and was turned off at the time. Every once in a while the mouse gets laggy. Clicks stop working. Etc. I replaced that with a wireless one, as well, and the problems are mostly solved.

I'll keep using this desktop unit for a while. I may transition to using my laptop instead. We'll see.

~~~~~~~

So, I got online there for a few hours. Friday afternoon. Went to bed a bit early because I was so worn out.

Saturday morning... Precisely 7am...

A huge alder on my property fell across the phone lines and power lines.

Ripped the phone lines in half. They had 96 wires they had to pair up and make work again. Ripped my line loose from the pole, two poles away. But not far enough to be seen, so it didn't get fixed until today.

Ripped the crossbars off of the power poles. Ripped a hole in a transformer. Etc. Carnage on top of carnage.

Power was restored in about 9 hours.

I have been without phone or internet until about 4:40 this afternoon.

Man, I was really jonseing for some internet!!!



And now you know... The REST of the story.

Thank you for the offer. I think it is finally pretty much handled now.


Only thing that is going to take some time, is finding the budget for a cell phone or tablet that is hot spot capable.

Truth be told, I love my computer and internet. But I am a bit of a luddite when it comes to phones.

I have the world's stupidest smart phone, and I have liked it that way.

I own my phone. It doesn't own me. Nor does the world own my time, so I am not obligated to even have it turned on except when I need it. And when I need it, a phone call or text is all I have needed.

This one is supposed to do internet. Kinda. But it is so outdated that it is worthless in that regard. I have been happy that it is that way.


Well, for the past week, I would have been happier if it had been a hot spot so I could connect to the internet through it.

So I have decided to give up my luddite ways and seek a better phone.

To be honest, I'd be happier with a tablet. Old eyes. Bigger screen.

The only thing that I really require is that it be capable of internet stuff, and to be used as a hot spot for my laptop to connect through.

But whatever I get, doesn't have to be anywhere near the latest and greatest. So I'll probably just wait until I find someone's 'hand-me-down' that they have upgraded from, and I can maybe pay a little bit per month for a while, to pay for it.

I have the landline, so I don't need the cell phone except for emergencies. And as a safety, when I go to town. Or when I am outside doing hazardous work. A way to call for help if I need it.

So my service is with tracfone. I pay 60 bucks for three months service and 180 minutes of talk time. (if text only, it's multiples of that.) I hardly ever use it, so the minutes have added up. Several thousand by now.

Point is, they have a "bring your own phone" service. Where it doesn't matter who the phone was tied to before, it becomes my phone, and tied to the tracfone service. So I can make use of pretty much anyone's old phone. Or tablet that is internet and hot spot capable.



Maybe more information than I needed to put out there, but what can I say? I am kind of punch drunk on being able to connect with people again. LOL