The tornado hit about a mile east of my place (which is about 3 miles NE of where I work).
#5
GasBandit
We should also check on @IronBrig4 though I think he's down in College Station further from this particular area.[DOUBLEPOST=1464302948,1464302737][/DOUBLEPOST]Footage and Photos:
I really meant something like a world map, so we know how dense some groups of halforumites are.
Yes, I know that many of us here value our privacy, so I don't really expect this to happen.
I really meant something like a world map, so we know how dense some groups of halforumites are.
Yes, I know that many of us here value our privacy, so I don't really expect this to happen.
Even though I have it pretty obvious in profile, I both understand and appreciate those who only respond "on-demand" to this type of thing, and don't want it easily available/harvestable.
#13
GasBandit
Massive thunderstorms today, flooding is even worse than yesterday. Sidewalk in front of my home is about 2 inches underwater.
We got struck by lightning here at work. I've been running around replacing network switches that got fried all morning. This suuuuucks.
#14
sixpackshaker
I actually got stuck in my house again. That extra 4 hour nap this morning paid dividends...
So, going to be able to persuade management to install lightning rods at the least, and preferably industrial surge protectors to protect the whole property? They exist.
So, going to be able to persuade management to install lightning rods at the least, and preferably industrial surge protectors to protect the whole property? They exist.
They almost surely have significant grounding and lightning protection at the station. However, when a bolt comes near a site, any long lines become antennas/generators and generate huge power surges, and ethernet cables are one significant receptor to the magnetic field a lightning strike generates. This would require surge protection on each ethernet cable.
You can overcome this with fiber optic lines for any connections longer than a few dozen feet.
So, going to be able to persuade management to install lightning rods at the least, and preferably industrial surge protectors to protect the whole property? They exist.
This one got fancy. Best as we can tell, lightning hit the transmitter tower (which is 500 feet tall), and it was a big'un, cause that happens all the time without this happening... but anyway, the zappy juice came down the guy wires, and one of the guy wires passes within 2 feet of the cable TV wire, and we think it "jumped" there, because where the cable comes into the building, the coax insulation is scorched black. Those coax lines enter the building through the same hole as the ethernet cable that goes to a wireless ethernet radio mounted to the roof (it lets us remote control our electronic roadsign), and that ethernet cable comes in and plugs into a switch... one of the two switches that got fried, and the other switch is also plugged into this switch, one room over.
The only hole in that theory though is that both the outdoor wifi radio and it's PoE adapter inside the building between the radio and the switch still function normally. But I don't know what else it could have been because everything else is surge-suppressed out the wahzoo.
#18
PatrThom
See if you can convince him to put a lightning arrestor on the cable line, maybe?
Any of the lines that come in from outside, actually.
Well, our first order of business is going to be an ethernet surge suppressor on that goddamned outdoor radio cable. Wish the guys who installed the sign and the radio had done that, but this'll be the third thing they fucked up (first they didn't hook up the bottom half of the sign, then they installed the light sensor INSIDE the sign where it can't see the sky/outside, and now this).
#20
PatrThom
If you hadn't already presented evidence to the contrary, I would've thought you were kidding about that second one.
You should see how goddamn bright the sign is at night because it can't tell when it's night. Seriously, we've gotten complaints. THE BEACONS ARE LIT. GONDOR CALLS FOR AID.
#22
PatrThom
I feel like this deserves someone putting "Check out my sign/Isn't it bright?" into the rotation.
--Patrick
#23
GasBandit
And there goes another network switch. This has been quite a day of attrition.
#24
PatrThom
I must say you've hit on a right clever way to finally get the owner to upgrade his equipment.
--Patrick
#25
GasBandit
Aaaand the xerox machine is fried, too.
Talking to the engineer, we also lost 3 studio telephones, a television, and all the tower lights. You know, the ones that make sure pilots can see the tower at night.
It's been probably 12 years since we got hit this bad, and that day, you could smell the cooking electronics coming from one studio.
#26
strawman
You let the magic smoke out. You're supposed to keep the magic smoke inside the electronics.[DOUBLEPOST=1464382971,1464382938][/DOUBLEPOST]I vote you build a huge dome like faraday cage around the entire station.
You let the magic smoke out. You're supposed to keep the magic smoke inside the electronics.[DOUBLEPOST=1464382971,1464382938][/DOUBLEPOST]I vote you build a huge dome like faraday cage around the entire station.
Another casualty - the magnetic door lock on the front door. Well, not the lock itself, just the button console that you're supposed to use after hours to disengage the lock. That lock is just staying locked.[DOUBLEPOST=1464390823,1464390725][/DOUBLEPOST]Well, Ironbrig's logged in twice at least since the tornado hit yesterday, so I guess he's ok, just busy maybe
Yes, though one of our stations had to switch to its backup transmitter when we lost an STL. I'm not sure if that got fixed or if it's still on backup, I only heard the engineer talking about it in the hallway as I scrambled to tend my own gardens.
Eh, quite a few people - 63 of them. But most of them aren't active anymore, honestly. I still have the Google Map, though I'm not sure everyone would still want their location made public.
There's one pin in Hawaii, and oddly, it's not who you'd think