Lightning damage to antenna

On July 14 my multi-band dipole antenna had a lightning encounter of some degree. Below are some photos showing damage to the feed point and the surge arrestor that is mounted on the outside wall of the garage.

 Here is a view of the feed point after I lowered it to eye level. The front part of the Ladder-Loc mount was blown away, but the electrical connections are intact.

Later I found two pieces of the front part and put them in place as shown in this photo. I have not found the other pieces.
The front part of a new unit might fit in place of the one that was damaged, if the dimensions have not changed much. I could simply secure the feed line and use the back part as is, without a front.

 This photo shows the inside of the balanced line surge arrestor, model AS-309H from Array Solutions. The referenced PDF file gives specs and explains the design features.
The feed from the antenna enters at the bottom, connected to the two long machine screws. At the top end of each screw a gas tube protector and a 1 Mohm resistor connect to a ground lug. The resistor provides a path for static charge to bleed off. A capacitor at the top of each screw connects to the balanced output lugs for the portion of feedline that enters the house.

Here is an annotated close-up of the area that shows the visible damage. Click on the photo for a better view. The two resistors have normal readings. I plan to replace both gas discharge tubes. The two capacitors are not shorted, based on ohmmeter readings, and don't appear to be open, based on transceiver operation and SWR readings. They may have changed somewhat in capacitance and should probably be replaced, too.

At the transceiver end of the feedline, I inspected the balun and found no visible damage. Ohmmeter readings revealed no shorts or grounds.







Update: In February of 2017, when adjusting the lengths of the dipole legs, I found additional evidence of the lightning hit at the southwest end of the dipole. See the two photos at the end of this posting.

John