the near electrocution you describe was due to several concurrent
problems: The short circuit due to a poor solder job, lack of a ground
I know what contributed to the problem, but much of the technology and
wiring was not available.
fault interrupter, and poor grounding of the equipment.
If there had been a GFI, it would have tripped as soon as the solder
This was in the late 60s. I'd never heard of a GFI back then and don't
think they were available. Thing is, there are still many homes that do
not have GFIs. The only GFIs in this home are those we have installed
and when you are working with older wiring you are taking a lot on
faith. Even after tracing out circuits you have no gurantee that there
isn't a branch running off somewhere. Perhaps an infinished project.
Nealy all equipment back then had a 3 wire cord, grounding the case to
the electrical ground, so the 101B with the 2 wire power cord and no
ground was an anomaly to most of us.
blob made a short, as long as the radio was connected to any sort of
ground, even a poor one. And if there was no ground at all, the GFI
would still have tripped, as soon as you touched that radial wire.
This shows how important GFIs are. For anyone who has no particular
interest in getting electrocuted because of any stupid little failure,
it's imperative to have GFIs on every circuit, even in those countries
where they are not yet mandatory.
The incident you describe was in the sixties. I don't think GFIs were
around back then. But today they are, and they are quite inexpensive
(the ones I used in my home cost about 12 dollars each, I have 4 of
them). So anyone who wants to prevent such an occurrence, can do so.
I replace the first outlet on a circuit with a GFI which protects the
entire circuit..."IF" the circuit is properly wired. GFI circuit
breakers are also available for panel installation, but those are not
cheap.
My entire shop is wired that way (GFI outlet first on the circuit)
except for the 240 with all the wiring in surface mounted EMT.
OTOH I have to admit, that I've had two GFI outlets fail.
73
Roger (K8RI)