Recently there was a tower climber up the tower at our Rock Springs site for another tenant.  The tower climber HAPPENED to look over at our antenna while he was working and discovered a large hole in the radome for our top bay.  I had noticed a slight increase in reflected power but not really enough to be concerned about.  It appears that the array had taken a lightning strike at some point.

Ouch!  That is a seriously melted radome…

Although there is some slight scorching on the antenna element itself, it appears to be intact.  Still,  this failure will need to be repaired.

Looks like we also have a number of hose clamps that are broken.  I suspect when one or two failed it may have contributed to the failure of others.

This array will require some repairs.  I will order a replacement bay and radome and bring the crew back to make repairs.