Frank Alforo wrote:
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?

You could probably hang by one hand from a 20 kV power
line and be OK as long as you didn't complete a current
path to another wire or ground.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
.com...
Frank Alforo wrote:
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?

You could probably hang by one hand from a 20 kV power
line and be OK as long as you didn't complete a current
path to another wire or ground.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

Beware of the gradient!

"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
.com...
Frank Alforo wrote:
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?

You could probably hang by one hand from a 20 kV power
line and be OK as long as you didn't complete a current
path to another wire or ground.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

You should have seen the TV educational channel where in some countries they
have a basket type trolley that men are put in and hung by helicopter on the
multi megavolt lines. They do wear some kind of suit that is conductive so
the charge will not affect their body so much.

"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
. net...
You should have seen the TV educational channel where in some countries
they have a basket type trolley that men are put in and hung by helicopter
on the multi megavolt lines. They do wear some kind of suit that is
conductive so the charge will not affect their body so much.

You mean these guys? http://www.haverfield.com/

--
Gerry

Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
.com...

Frank Alforo wrote:

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?

You could probably hang by one hand from a 20 kV power
line and be OK as long as you didn't complete a current
path to another wire or ground.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp


You should have seen the TV educational channel where in some countries they
have a basket type trolley that men are put in and hung by helicopter on the
multi megavolt lines. They do wear some kind of suit that is conductive so
the charge will not affect their body so much.


They ;do that in this country. Mesh suit of some metal, can't remember
which metal but not important as long as it's conductive I guess.
Great job I bet, big bucks....

On Sun, 25 Jun 2006 12:09:18 GMT, Cecil Moore
wrote:

Frank Alforo wrote:
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?

You could probably hang by one hand from a 20 kV power
line and be OK as long as you didn't complete a current
path to another wire or ground.


You could probably hang by both hands if they were close together. I
would not want to try it, though.

When I worked in broadcast radio years ago, I was always amazed that
service personnal would climb the 10 kw tower hot to change lights.
They stated they could feel potential between their hands as they
climbed.

Win, wolz

"Win" wrote
You could probably hang by one hand from a 20 kV power
line and be OK as long as you didn't complete a current
path to another wire or ground.

You could probably hang by both hands if they were close together. I
would not want to try it, though.

When I worked in broadcast radio years ago, I was always amazed that
service personnal would climb the 10 kw tower hot to change lights.
They stated they could feel potential between their hands as they
climbed.
_____________

But the a-c frequency is important here. The voltage gradient between
adjacent hand grips for power in a conductor at AM broadcast station
frequencies (the vertical antenna radiator, in this case) is a lot higher
for the same conducted power than for that same span along a conductor on
the 50/60 Hz a-c power grid.

RF

In article , Win
wrote:

When I worked in broadcast radio years ago, I was always amazed that
service personnal would climb the 10 kw tower hot to change lights.
They stated they could feel potential between their hands as they
climbed.

Win, wolz

Hello, and was that a shunt-fed AM broadcast tower? You might just get
away with a grab at ground level. OTOH, I would think that grabbing onto
a live base-insulated type tower would have serious consequences when
being fed by a 10 kW transmitter. Just looking at the RF bypass hardware
needed at the base to provide for tower lighting (Austin transformer or
Collins lighting choke) should be enough to say "keep away" while
transmitting. Sincerely, and 73s from N4GG0,

John Wood (Code 5550) e-mail:
Naval Research Laboratory
4555 Overlook Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20375-5337

In article ,
(J. B. Wood) wrote:

In article , Win
wrote:

When I worked in broadcast radio years ago, I was always amazed that
service personnal would climb the 10 kw tower hot to change lights.
They stated they could feel potential between their hands as they
climbed.

Win, wolz

Hello, and was that a shunt-fed AM broadcast tower? You might just get
away with a grab at ground level. OTOH, I would think that grabbing onto
a live base-insulated type tower would have serious consequences when
being fed by a 10 kW transmitter. Just looking at the RF bypass hardware
needed at the base to provide for tower lighting (Austin transformer or
Collins lighting choke) should be enough to say "keep away" while
transmitting. Sincerely, and 73s from N4GG0,

John Wood (Code 5550) e-mail:

Naval Research Laboratory
4555 Overlook Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20375-5337

Then you would be.....wait for it....... WRONG........