Topband: Hazards of HV-Caps for gammas

[John Ackley]

I've always used vacuum capacitors but talking about fire hazards:  I 
shunt feed a 180 foot tower on 160 and used PVC pipe for standoff 
insulators every few feet up the tower.  One night when calling CQ, out 
the shack window I noticed someone calling CQ lighting up the country 
side with brilliant flashes of light.  Of course, it was my PVC 
"insulators" that had carbonized and made a spectacular display when the 
key was down!  Moral: PVC is not a good insulator.  I switched to large 
glass insulators.


Dr .Wolf Ostwald wrote:

>Hi reflectees !
>Although it is very interesting to hear about the many ways of making HF caps for gamma matches, i want to bring about another consideration. Most of the caps described are representing a big fire hazard ! 
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