[Elecraft] Mistakes (WAS: One more on the "stupid" thread)

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

One key point about making mistakes is this: All of us have survived them,
at least so far. Not everyone does. 

Ham radio has lost a lot of great ops to falls from towers, slips out of
trees or off roofs and, mostly in the past, electrocution. 

Electrocution is not the huge danger it was when we were routinely poking
around circuits that would be energized with hundreds or thousands of volts.
Still, lower voltages can produce nasty shocks under the right conditions
and it's easy to get painful burns from RF or hot components when working
around modern gear. In power supplies the mains voltage is absolutely
deadly. 

The difference between a painful injury and a fatal one is sometimes very,
very small. Especially when a small injury makes one jump or fall.

Mistakes are a part of life. They are sometimes funny, often frustrating and
always a warning. 

Ron AC7AC