YS1YS El Salvador sytem out of service, lighting strike

Submitted by N6KZB on Thu, 2021-09-16 23:31

Report from locals:

Hi, after I was notified this morning that the facilities in Nejapa had been struck by lightning two days ago, I went there this morning and collected all the equipment.

They also had severe damage to other equipment, including their internet big equipment that is really expensive. There were signs of sparks in the floor where the power supply (Astron) was.

Preliminary results are:

- Icom IC-7300 does not turn on, cable and fuses are OK. The manual also mentions a 5-amp fuse that I couldn't find on the outside.

- Alinco DR-135: its 3 fuses were exploded, shattered, and it does not turn on when I tried with a small power supply and small fuse just in case.

- Dell computer: does not turn on. Its power supply has 19.4 volts and that's it.

- Dell 19" monitor: turns on but goes into Power Save Mode immediately, it does not "see" data, tried it with my desktop with the same results.

- Kantronics: power input is short-circuited, no way to define more without opening it.

- SCS Pactor 4: (maybe the good news) it seems to be turning on as it should. I don't have a way to test its operation but applied external power with a tiny fuse and its LEDs all turn on, they seem to follow a sequence, and then it beeps and remains "ON". I think it was originally powered from the computer or the radio, I just applied 12v to its power posts through a very small fuse following the indications in the manual.

Too bad, ITU will have to figure out what to do, as they bought the equipment.

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