[Elecraft] Stupid, stupid, stupid - OT

[EricJ]

At K2USA we had a BC-610 in the main studio (1964). It stood a little over
desk high and was truly the Mother of all Boatanchors. To tune it, you had
to lift a small hatch in the top surface and rotate a link coupling. But, of
course, you had to switch off the B+ first. If you forgot to do that, there
was an interlock on the small hatch to cut the B+.

We had two military operators (not hams) who handled the MARS traffic for us
so we could ham. Somebody had discovered that the interlock was not working
earlier in the day. I taped down the hatch, taped a note over that so the
ops would have to remove the note to open the hatch, told the two ops to be
absolutely sure they shut off the B+ before tuning the TX and left for home.

An hour later, I get a call that one of the ops had been electrocuted and
taken to sick call. Well he hadn't been electrocuted exactly. He opened the
hatch, rested his elbow on the top, reached in with a screwdriver to tweak
the link and hit the high voltage with the TX keyed. It blew a 1/4 inch hole
out his elbow where it contacted the top surface.

They patched him up, gave him a tetanus shot and gave him the night off. I
asked the doc why he got a tetanus shot and he said RF burns seem to cook
below the surface somewhat and the tetanus shot helps internal damage heal
faster for some reason.

I was stupid to allow them to use the TX, and I was stupid not to realize
how stupid the op was.

We get really careless with all the solid-state gear. Often even dropping a
screw in an operating circuit, or carelessly dragging a test lead through a
hot ciruit fails to do anything. Many of these circuits just bounce right
back once the short is removed (not always). The second day I had my Drake
2-NT, I moved a wire out of the way with my finger and got a little 350v DC
wake-up for my carelessness. It's something that is done routinely in my
Elecraft gear. Maybe this interesting series will remind us that there are
dangers inherent in this hobby.

Eric
KE6US
www.ke6us.com

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Ron D'Eau Claire
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 8:40 PM
To: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] Stupid, stupid, stupid - OT

Jim W4BQP wrote:
Anyone remember drawing an arc off the plate cap of a transmitter tube with
a wooden lead pencil?

---------------------------------

Many times! Only 1,000 vdc or so on there and enough RF to create a burn
that hurt like @#@#$! for a month if it found bare skin!