[Elecraft] Anti Static Mats

[Rich]

If I got such an answer from a fire department, I would tell them that 
the dead cat may well be hidden in the tree, and once dead would likely 
attract nature's sanitation team and they would likely remove the dead 
cat with at least as much efficiency as the fire department can muster.

If the cat is injured, it may need help that it can not provide for it's 
self.

I'm not a cat lover, I just don't think this analogy is worth much.  
(And, not trying to start a budget discussion--I would not call the fire 
department, but a five-year old kid might).

A bad anti-static mat may relate more to the sick cat than the dead 
cat.  When you pull on the tail of the sick cat you may get a weak mew 
that may eventually go silent, returning this thread back to radio 
through reference to an old wireless metaphor.

YMMD

Richard Hill

On 4/6/2014 10:16 PM, Fred Townsend wrote:
> Alan if you call the fire department about a cat up a tree they will ask if you have ever seen a dead cat in a tree inferring that the cat will find its own way down from the tree without help.
>
> If the resistance and maintenance of the mat are so critical don't you think we would reports of dead mats by now?
> 73
> Fred, AE6QL
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Fred Townsend <fptownsend at earthlink.net>
>> Sent: Apr 6, 2014 9:24 PM
>> To: Sam Morgan <k5oai.sam at gmail.com>, elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Anti Static Mats
>>
>>
>> I was once asked if the mats on my assembly line were antistatic. I thought they were but I wasn’t sure since I didn’t buy them. The mats took a beating and only lasted a year or two. Some were new and some were in tatters. I flipped over a new mat. It clearly said antistatic but the older mats didn’t have any labels and they looked different. I took an ohmmeter, stabbing the probes in about an inch apart. No reading. No reading for the new mats or the antistatic bags we used by the thousands. After rubbing with fur, a triboelectric meter (a meter used for measuring static charge) was used on the mats and bags without measuring a charge.
>>
>> My conclusion was surfaces could be antistatic without measuring any resistance. Same for bags. If you have one from your Elecraft kit, try measuring it with an ohmmeter.
>> 73
>> Fred, AE6QL
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Sam Morgan <k5oai.sam at gmail.com>
>>> Sent: Apr 6, 2014 7:21 PM
>>> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>>> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Anti Static Mats
>>>
>>> oops never mind, I just reread the pdf on the Sierra FS and it's made in
>>> China, where as the Desco is made in the US (or so they say)
>>>
>>> On 4/6/2014 9:00 PM, Alan Bloom wrote:
>>>
>>>> I recommend against using a mat that has no specifications other than
>>>> asserting it is an "anti-static mat."  I found that the two I bought and
>>>> tested both had too high a resistance to do any good.
>>> -- 
>>> GB & 73
>>> K5OAI
>>> Sam Morgan
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