[Milsurplus] For God's Sake- Stop and Think

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On 10/31/05, C Whitaker <whitaker at pa.net> wrote:
> You ever have a BC-779 powered up on the bench, and then
> pick it up by the IF cans?   One thing I've noticed is that I get
> zapped less and less the older I get.
>
> 73  Clete

Good to know, Clete! I have the SX version (794? 749?) in the project
queue, so I'll be alert to that.

I hadn't been zapped for years, then in early October I got nailed
twice in less than 24 hours. First time was on a Sunday night while
changing a fuse in an old mod 28 teletype printer terminal. After the
old fuse blew, I twisted the cover and removed it, but forgot to
unplug the unit before reinstalling it. reaching around a live machine
in the dark is not one of the brighter (no pun intended, really)
things I've done.

The next time wasn't really my fault, but does illustrate what weird
things can happen and that you must always be alert. Helping a friend
prepare for the Hosstraders hamfest, trying to get his NC-125 working
again I got a nasty jolt from a metal octal tube, for no apparent
reason. Seems he had removed the tubes to clean the chassis and this
particular one was missing its keyway. Of course, it didn't go back in
the right way, and while trying to figure out why it wasn't receiving,
I got between the tube case and one of the IF cans. Haven't jumped
that high or fast for a long time, not even the night before!

He did say "I'm sure I got all of the tubes back in the right
sockets", but when I pulled the tube and found the problem, it
suddenly made sense. And we're not talking about a newbie ham, either.
He's been a ham since the 50s and was a broadcast engineer for several
decades too.

You never can be too careful, as the saying goes...

de Todd/'Boomer'  KA1KAQ