Topband: HVDC

[Lee K7TJR]

You don't step off a combine when harvesting under HVAC lines. You learn to
jump off real quick.
  I think it is capacitive coupling. The larger combines pack a real wallop
when under HVAC lines.
 I lived near Portland Oregon for a long time. There was a 480 KV line about
a mile away. Fizz with a 180 HZ component.
I could not use 160 meters when there was any fog because of Corona
discharge.
 Tree N6TR lived near this same line for a while. He even convinced them to
turn it off once to see if it was his problem as well.
 Maybe he will jump in on this topic.

Lee   K7TJR   OR


-----Original Message-----
From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Gary
Smith
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2015 9:45 AM
To: Topband at contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: HVDC

I have never had any personal experience with HVDC but I do have a personal
experience with HVAC power lines that I will never forget.

I lived in Highland Indiana, about 1/2 mile south of I-80 and in between
there were HVAC power lines and there were no houses underneath them and it
was a perfect place for me to take my fiddle to practice. I was just
starting to play this new instrument and the animals in the house didn't
like the sound of me learning so to be kind I went and parked underneath the
power lines, raised the trunk on my Dodge Caravan and practiced for several
hours.

When I went to leave, the car wouldn't start though the engine would turn
over and all of the features like radio and lights were working perfectly. I
had never had a problem with that before with this car. 
I searched as much as I could to find fuse-wise what might be the problem
but nothing was amiss. I looked in the Haynes repair book that I kept in the
car and it showed a connector leading to the fuel pump in the undercarriage,
between the passenger's door and the side sliding door. I went underneath to
see if that connection had become compromised.

I was in a T-shirt, it was summer, warm and a little sweaty. As I was
working underneath I felt what I thought was a bee sting on my forearm.
Jerked the arm away but didn't see a Bee and went back to trying to find
that connection and I felt another sting close to where the first one was.
When I looked I saw it wasn't a Bee but instead, it was where my arm lightly
brushing against the body of the car. The sting was from a small electric
arc and it was burning my skin. There was nothing in the car that would
cause that to happen and then I realized the power lines were overhead and
that me being on the ground and touching the metal of the car was completing
a connection from what I assume was inductance from the metal in the car,
gathered from the lines overhead.

I called a friend to come and tow me back home and while I was sitting on
the rear of the minivan waiting for him, I realized I was feeling a
consistent vibration and that I could especially notice it by touching the
rear bumper. It felt for the world like the car was running and I was
feeling the vibration of the engine. The car was vibrating at 60 HZ from
those overhead lines that had earlier caused me to get a small, white,
pinpoint burn on my forearm.

It turns out the problem was the fuel pump was not working and whether it
was damaged from that HV electricity or if it just by happenstance failed at
that time, I have no idea but I never forgot that. And that was the day I
also learned that fuel pumps were now being built into the fuel tank,
surrounded by gasoline... I learned a lot that day.

I have 11 years of formal education in healthcare but I'm not an authority
as to damage that electromagnetics may cause. My father worked around
electronics and ham radio his whole life and died at 97, never having cancer
or anything like it. I'm not concerned much at all about RF exposure, but
after experiencing what I personally did, I will never willingly live close
to HVAC power lines if I have the choice.

73,

Gary
KA1J

	
Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband