FW: FW: [Elecraft] Elecraft Voice Net

[Kevin Rock]

I worked at Microswitch in the mid '70s.  I was a switch inspector.  Here I am testing my 
switches for arc over with 1800 volts DC if I remember correctly.  I was supposed to 
have a paper towel wrapped around the switch to insulate me from it.  But, since it was 
summer in the Midwest, it was quite humid and my paper towel was getting moist.  This 
didn't matter for the good switches.  Along comes a bad switch.  I hold it in my left 
hand and push down the button with my thumb.  Then I push the test switch on my 
bench with my right thumb.  Well 1800 volts DC decides to take the path of least 
resistance from one thumb through my chest to my other thumb.  For the rest of the 
afternoon Kevin was out of sorts!  Shocking indeed was the impact.  I had never felt 
that much voltage with direct current.  AC yes but DC was a whole 'nother feeling!  It 
felt like all the ions in my chest had moved sideways a foot or two.  Kind of like my own 
little electrphoresis experiment in situ :)
   Kevin.


2/21/2004 6:51:26 PM, "Dan Barker" <dbarker@visioncomm.net> wrote:

>Well, the closest I ever got to high voltage on CW was at a party at KR4W's
>house. The receiver was fairly petite, no larger than a suitcase. The
>transmitter was the size of a large microwave oven. Nobody had a J-38 handy,
>but I heard WG4T on the air. I had to get the call just after mine in the
>log, so we grabbed a pair of clip leads. I don't know how dangerous it was,
>but Richard said I was keying 800 volts with those two little alligator
>clips. My code was a bit rough<g>, but WG4T is in the log. Obviously, the
>WG4S (We Go For Scotch) hadn't kicked in too much yet (or enough)!
>
>Dan / WG4S / K2 #2456