[TenTec] power went out

[Connie Dodson]

When I was a small child, I had a direct contact with 110 VAC.

I lost all feeling in my right arm due to electrical short into the metal tone arm of a 45-RPM record player for children.

My right arm felt like rubber, hanging limply at my side for many days ...perhaps for weeks.

The only way I could "let go" of the tone arm was to throw all my body weight away from the contact point: the electrical shock itself "disabled" any neuro-muscular control to "let go" of the metal tone arm.

I did not have two hands touching, and so, the electrical path did not travel through my heart or it would have been fatal.


Connie/W7CJD



--- n4py2 at earthlink.net wrote:

From: Carl Moreschi <n4py2 at earthlink.net>
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] power went out
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:14:22 -0400

A tenth of an amp is all it takes to kill.  But it takes volts to make 
the push to make the amps.  In some scenarios, it is possible for 120 
volts to cause the tenth of an amp to flow to kill.

Carl Moreschi N4PY
121 Little Bell Dr.
Hays, NC 28635
www.n4py.com

On 8/23/2011 10:29 PM, John Molenda wrote:
> On 8/23/2011 10:26 PM, Connie Dodson wrote:
>> I don't want to sound "old-fashioned" but I will not take the cover off some equipment.
>>
>> The last time I had a soldering iron out, it was for my kit-Quad stereo amplifier.
>>
>> I was told never touch capacitor "cans" and I believe it: I saw a color television repair man kicked across the room on his rear end because of one of the "cans".
>>
>> The surprise: the appliance can be unplugged from the "mains" and everything, you think, is OFF.
>>
>> But capacitors store the stuff.
>>
>> I also was told amps kill quicker than volts. But that isn't entirely true: it does take less amps to kill than it takes for volts to kill, that is true.
>>
>> I thought this thread was "incomplete" without this information.
>>
>>
>> Connie/W7CJD
>>
>>
>>
>> --- cw_de_n5op at sbcglobal.net wrote:
>>
>> From: Kim Elmore<cw_de_n5op at sbcglobal.net>
>> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment<tentec at contesting.com>
>> Subject: Re: [TenTec] power went out
>> Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 20:32:05 -0500
>>
>> All of this reminds me of all the warnings my Dad (W5JHJ, SK) gave me
>> as a youngster growing up around lethal HV and tubes. Among many was
>> "Never get around this stuff with both hands if there's a chance of
>> it being energized. Always keep one hand in your pocket."
>>
>> It was evening and I was tired. I was working on my modified AL-80A
>> (4 kV 0.5 A homebrew supply) for reasons now forgotten. Cover off,
>> interlock defeated I absently reached over it something for some
>> reason while one hand rested on the chassis. I came very close to
>> touching the HV supply while it was on. I realized what I'd done
>> about a millisecond later and simply sat there for a minute. I then
>> gave myself a mental tongue lashing worthy of anything my Dad could
>> have ever dished out, shut it all off, walked out and went to bed.
>> Ever since, as soon as I feel a tiny bit of fatigue, I call it quits.
>> There isn't a piece of gear out there worth dying over.
>>
>> Kim N5OP
>>
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> amen  !
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