Dateline: West Middlesex, PA
Doctors are blaming a rare electrical imbalance in the brain for the
bizarre death of a amateur radio operator whose head literally exploded
in the middle of an international radio contest.
No one else was hurt in the fatal explosion but four other amateur
radio operators (K3LR, N3RA, NI8L & VE3EJ) sprayed with blood and
brain matter when W3GH, Robert W. King's, head suddenly blew apart.
Experts say he suffered from a condition called Hyper-Cerebral
Electromagnetics or HCE.
"He was deep in concentration with his eyes focused on the packet
screen", says Tim Duffy, the night janitor, of the famous international
contesting station. "All of a sudden his hands flew to his temples and
he screamed in pain. Everyone looked up from their positions, startled
by the noise. Then, as if someone had put an exploding electolytic in
his cranium, his head popped like a firecracker."
Incredibly, This is not the first case in which a contesters head has
spontaneously exploded. Five people are known to have died of HCE in
the last 25 years. The most recent death occurred just three years ago
in 1994, when WM2H, Salvatore (Hobo) Anastasio's skull burst, while he
was operating the 20 meter position at the N2RM amateur radio station.
"HCE is an extremely rare physical imbalance," said Dr. John Golomb, Jr.,
a famed neurologist and expert on the human brain who did the autopsy
on the brilliant contest operator "It is a condition in which the
circuits of the brain become overloaded by the body's own electricity.
The explosions happen during periods of intense mental activity when
lots of current is surging through the brain. Victims are highly
intelligent people with great powers of concentration. Both Mr. King
and Mr. Anastasio were intense people who tended to keep those cerebral
circuits overloaded. In a way it could be said they were literally too
smart for their own good."
In addition, Dr. Andrew Blank says there are probably many undiagnosed
cases, he hastens to add that very few people will die from HCE. "Most
people who have it will never know. At this point, medical science still
doesn't know much about HCE. And since fatalities are so rare it will
probably be years before research money becomes available."
In the meantime, the Drs. Golomb & Blank urge contesters to take it
easy and not think too hard for long periods of time while operating
contests. "Take frequent relaxation breaks when you're doing things
that take lots of mental focus," especially during a big run or when
busting pile-ups.
Although HCE is very rare, it can kill. Knowing you have the condition
can greatly improve your odds of surviving it. A "yes" answer to any
three of the following seven questions could mean that you have HCE
and it's possible your head is about to blow up:
1. Does your head sometimes ache when you dig stations out of the
noise, hour after hour? (Head pain can indicate overloaded brain
circuits.)
2. Do you ever hear a faint ringing or humming sound in your ears?
(It could be the sound of electricity in the skull cavity.)
3. Do you sometimes hear cw in your head while taking nap breaks?
(This is a possible sign of too much electrical activity in the
cerebral cortex.)
4. Do you spend more than an hour a day reading or replying to e-mail
from: CQ-Contest, Tower Talk, Top Band Reflector or 3830 Scores?
(A common symptom of HCE is a tendency to over-use the brain.)
5. Do you get angry or frustrated when some multi-multi station moves
that needed mult to another band, just when you were about to snag
him? Victims who have died of HCE are often frustrated about
evaporating double mults.
6. Do you drink too much dr. Pepper and over eat other snacks during
a contest? Drinking & snacking during a contest is typical of
people with too much electrical pressure in the cranium.)
7. Do you tend to analyze the results of contests too much?
(HCE sufferers are often introspective, "over-thinking" their
strategies before and after each contest.
Sincerely,
dr. Bafoofnik
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