[UK-CONTEST] Cooking by RF

[Ken Eastty]

Giles Herbert wrote:
> 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

We used to play similar tricks although with much less power than the BC 
TX produced, I doubt that today H&S would let anyone as near as we used 
to get to the aerial tuning coils of the Ongar Radio long wave TX's 
which were completely unscreened and only guarded by having a wooden 
rail around them. The 16kHz tuning unit of the Rugby Radio GBR 1MW (?) 
TX was something to behold, from memory it was about the size of a large 
house.

73...

Ken

G3LVP
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