[Hallicrafters] Destruct buttons in mil gear

[Roger K8RI]

> What did you do about the Thermite?

Thermite isn't a big problem unless you fire it inside a building as there 
is no way to put it out once you start it.

>
> One of my friends back in high school got a piece of
> gear from Army MARS -- if I remember right I think it
> was an AN/PPN-2 radar beacon that was used by OSS
> agents or maybe Resistance fighters for marking drop
> zones for paratrooper or supply aircraft.  Real
> interesting piece of gear and quite rare today; I
> think it worked somewhere in the viciity of 220 MHz.
> That thing had a little red cap on the panel that had
> to be unscrewed.  It was plainly marked DESTRUCT.  It
> also said "Remove cap and get 25 feet away within 3

If they wanted 25 feet it more than likely originally had more than thermite 
in it.
You can sit within 3 or 4 feet of a 5# canister although you so so at the 
risk of getting splattered.
It's just a chemical reaction that gives off a lot of heat and molten iron 
which will burn through durn near anything including a concrete floor.

Roger Halstead (K8RI and ARRL 40 year Life Member)
N833R - World's oldest Debonair CD-2
www.rogerhalstead.com (Use return address from home page)

> seconds."  The dumbutt had no more sense than to
> unscrew the cap "to see what would happen" and just
> sat there looking at the radio with a clueless "Whut
> th' Hay-ul does this do?" expression on his face.  I
> was running like H*LL!  Fortunately, the thermite
> charge was not in it.  But he had no way of knowing
> that; I was there when he received it and unwrapped
> the thing brand new from its overseas packing so I
> know he had not looked at it before and wasn't pulling
> a stunt.  That guy must have been one of God's
> Favorite Chil'lun.
>
> 73
>
> Mike
> WA4DLF
>
>
>
>
>
>
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