[UK-CONTEST] UK-Contest Digest, Vol 74, Issue 40

[Giles Herbert]

Hello,

 

This is my first post and continues the established theme of "Cooking by RF".

 

With HF Broadcasting installations using AM and balance feeders, the practice used to be to run the open wire feeders to deck via 1/4 wave tails outside the transmitter building.  This allowed the entprising to start at the bottom of one leg or the other and using hand capacitance through a pencil, draw an arc, and in so doing, reveal the modulation:  The arc in air acting as a rectifier and loudspeaker.
 
Careful selection ensured the unsharpened end of the pencil did not have exposed graphite which would inevitably cause a burn to the hand.  It was not unknown for painted pencils to catch fire with characteristically different burns resulting.
 
If you have never had an RF Burn, they cause most damage in the flesh below the skin, and the smell is similar to roast pork.

Giles Herbert
G0NXA




 
> Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:28:21 +0000
> From: ken.g3lvp at btinternet.com
> To: uk-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] UK-Contest Digest, Vol 74, Issue 40
> 
> 
> >>>
> >>> Clive Whelan wrote:
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>>> You don't need a Henry 8K to get an rf burn. 10w ( that's t-e-n) is 
> >>>> sufficient when e.g. fed to a random wire on 160m. I still have the 
> >>>> scars on my finger tips to prove this, and the disgusting smell of 
> >>>> burning flesh is hard to forget :-(
> >>>>
> >>>> Those were the days my friends, I thought they'd never end: where did 
> >>>> they go?
> >>>>
> >>>> 73
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Clive
> >>>> GW3NJW
> >>>>
> >>>> 
> >>>> You don't even need a TX connected to the antenna to get an RF burn, I once had a burn off a Rhombic feeder just through pick up from adjacent antennas! Those were the days, sadly all gone now, there's nothing left of that particular station in Essex except for a few of big concrete anchor blocks for the guys of the 300 ft 'Hammer Head' masts. 
> Ken Eastty
> 
> G3LVP
> >>>> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> >>>> 
> >>>> 
> >>>> 
> >>>> 
> 
> 
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