[ARC5] Death Angel Flyby

[Robert Eleazer]

One of my high school teachers was a ham and had been working in radio stations for decades.  One night he shut down the station transmitter, and afterwards, following his usual practice went into the transmitter cage to vacuum up any dust.

And BAM!  He woke up on the floor.  He found that while there was a lever that when closed at shutdown routed the HV into some busbars, a mouse happened to be sitting at the point where the lever should have made contact, insulating the HV from the dead short that should have occurred.

He had made contact with the HV and it had melted the steel vacuum cleaner wand, spattering him with molten metal.

Driving home he really realized what had occurred and had to pull over and stop for a while.

By the way, I picked up a 500W isolation transformer at the Melbourne hamfest several years ago for $5.00.  Y'all might keep your eyes open for one.  I have blown too many fuses when using a Variac and plan to discontinue that practice.
  
Wayne
WB5WSV
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