"Frank Alforo" wrote in
:

If I touch the coil in my tuner while transmitting I get a painful rf
burn. But a bird can perch on my antenna wire while I transmit 100
watts and it stays there seemingly without a care in the world. How
come?

The bird is (usually) small compared to the wavelength. Much smaller than
you are. And, except at the ends of antenna elements, the voltage is not
particularly high. Whereas there is a high voltage across your coil and
you are a much larger portion of a wavelength than the bird, so significant
current will flow into you if you touch the coil.


--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667