KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Time to insure your ham radio gear?

Posted: 18 Feb 2021 02:24 PM PST
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On the Long Island CW Club mailing list, a fellow asked whether or not he
should get insurance for his ham equipment. He writes, Back when I ran a
home brew 6CL6 tube type rig it didn’t matter much. Â*Now — the investment
makes me think about the safety of the gear. Â* Any suggestions?

One of the first responses was that the ARRL offers insurance. This
insurance covers all of your equipment, including computers and costs $1.40
per $100 of equipment covered, with a minimum premium of $20. There is a
deductible, but its only $50. It covers equipment in your shack, theft from
unattended vehicles,Â* and towers and antennas up to $15,000.00 replacement
cost.Â*Our club carries this insurance on our repeater system, and I know at
least one club member carries it on his personal equipment.

Two of the folks replying to the original post have had good experiences
with the ARRL insurance. One said, About a dozen years ago lightening
struck about a hundred feet from my home and took out 99% of the
electronics including the hearing aids I was wearing. I didn’t even notice
the deductible after my insurance took care of everything. Â*Just be sure
you have a good agent!

Another replied, I am a big fan of the insurance available thru the ARRL.Â*
While some homeowner policies might cover gear in the house, the ARRL plan
covers your mobile gear and portable gear as well.Â* As I do a lot of mobile
and portable HF and bring my gear on vacation even when traveling abroad,
the ARRL plan is a good fit for me.Â* And it covers full replacement cost.

Someone else mentioned that he had purchased insurance through Ham Radio
Insurance Associates. This seems a bit more expensive than the ARRL
insurance. There is a minimum annual premium of $25 for $1,600 of equipment
coverage, but you dont have to be an ARRL member to get the insurance.

Should you get insurance? Well, the first thing you might do is to take
stock of your gear to determine how valuable it is. Heres what one of the
respondents had to say:

Once I did an inventory, my shack was more valuable than I thought once I
considered replacement value.Â* My insurance agent told me that as long as
it was a hobby that they would insure my equipment, but we have a $500
deductible on our homeowners insurance.

I was on the fence about specialty insurance until I heard the wind
whistling past my 34 tower with gusts up to 70mph one winter night.Â* I
decided that if everything was intact by morning (it was) that Id buy the
ARRL insurance and be able to sleep much better at night.

I think that Im long overdue on coming up with this list for myself. Im
definitely putting this on my ham radio to-do list.

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