12 years back there was a CB'er that had a double 3-500 Z amp with 3500
volts on the plate that lived next door to me.

One day he noticed he was running about half power instead of full bore so
he popped the top of the amp and noticed one of the wires on the tube caps
(PLATE) had come unsoldered.....so instead of turning the amp off he melted
the solder a bit with his insulated soldering iron and forced the wire back
into the molten puddle....It worked!.......Then holding a large roll of bare
solder in his hand he added a bit more to the molten solder

It didnt take him long to let go of that roll of solder in his bare hand!!!

His entire hand was burnt white!
"Mike Andrews" wrote in message
...
Bill wrote:
In message , Steve Nosko
writes

SO... He reaches around the end...grabs some line cord and proceeds to
cut
off a piece with scissors...

Blam! ... notched scissors!

On a vaguely similar line my father was rewiring an outside building and
carefully removed all the fuses from the fuse box before cutting out all
the old cabling. He then came across a cable he had forgotten and cut
this too, BANG!! It was the input to the fuse box. One very badly melted
pair of cutters and a rather startled father.

I gotta. I just gotta.

About 25 years back, I was a new systems programmer for a government
agency which I'll cleverly call WeBuildHighways. Our sister shop, the
Department of inHuman Services, was fairly close, and we spent a fair
amount of time visiting and swapping hints and kinks.

One day I was there while some remodeling was being done: an old door
wsa being blocked and a new one cut. I heard a Skilsaw fire up, saw a
blade movingd ownward, and cringed: there was a quad-box about a foot
below the blade and in its path.

My counterpar was a bit quicker, and shouted "Turn Off All Your
Terminals RIGHT _NOW_!!" -- just before the blue flash and the great
dark silence.

This was before PCs, and so we only lost some 3270 terminal sessions
to the mainframe. It was ... interesting.

Another time I'll tell about The Guy Who Blew Himself Through The Door.

--
Mike Andrews

Tired old sysadmin

In message , Ernie
writes
......Then holding a large roll of bare
solder in his hand he added a bit more to the molten solder

It didnt take him long to let go of that roll of solder in his bare hand!!!

I trust you entered him for the "Darwin award"?
--
Bill

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 21:20:01 -0400, "Ernie" wrote:

12 years back there was a CB'er that had a double 3-500 Z amp with 3500
volts on the plate that lived next door to me.

What a delight to live next-door to. :-(
--

"What is now proved was once only imagin'd." - William Blake, 1793.

Ernie wrote:
12 years back there was a CB'er that had a double 3-500 Z amp with
3500 volts on the plate that lived next door to me.

One day he noticed he was running about half power instead of
full bore so he popped the top of the amp and noticed one of the
wires on the tube caps (PLATE) had come unsoldered.....so
instead of turning the amp off he melted the solder a bit with his
insulated soldering iron and forced the wire back into the molten
puddle....It worked!.......Then holding a large roll of bare solder in
his hand he added a bit more to the molten solder

It didnt take him long to let go of that roll of solder in his bare
hand!!!

Something similar happened to a friend who was doing some soldering on a
power amp that was still switched on. He wasn't as stupid as that CBer
above, oh no. He had passed his amateur exams, so he knew he was working
on a "safe" part of the amp, well away from the 3kV.

Well...

He was using a whole reel of solder, and holding the end between finger
and thumb, kinda like you do. But he wasn't paying too much attention to
the rest of the reel - it slipped off his other finger, and unwound into
the amp. Guess where?

He had a nasty little burn on his thumb, and an even nastier little hole
in his shirt-front where his chest had been pressed against the case of
the amp. He's very lucky indeed to be alive.


--
73 from Ian G3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

I seem to recall that one of the early founders of amateur radio in
the US died from a similar accident.

Details escape me, although I recall reading about it sometime last
year.

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom

Gary S. wrote:
I seem to recall that one of the early founders of amateur radio in
the US died from a similar accident.

Details escape me, although I recall reading about it sometime last
year.

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom
Russ Hall was eletrocuted by a CRT power supply
in the 30's while building an early TV receiver.

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 16:11:10 +0100, "Ian White, G3SEK"
wrote:

Hi Ian,

Was it you who carried out some tests a while ago trying to simulate
the measurement of S - parameters through Spice? I know you've got a
VNA, but I'm talking here strictly about *simulation* of transistor
reflection coefficients, for the avoidance of doubt. Was that
yourself?
--

"What is now proved was once only imagin'd." - William Blake, 1793.

Paul Burridge wrote:
On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 16:11:10 +0100, "Ian White, G3SEK"
wrote:

Hi Ian,

Was it you who carried out some tests a while ago trying to simulate
the measurement of S - parameters through Spice? I know you've got a
VNA, but I'm talking here strictly about *simulation* of transistor
reflection coefficients, for the avoidance of doubt. Was that
yourself?

No.

--
73 from Ian G3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

OK, some more stupid tricks.
In Jr. High school science fair some kid
brought in a one tube radio, powered by
a 1.5v A battery and a 90 volt B battery.
Radio wasn't working so some brainiac
said 'test the batteries'. How do you test
them? Kid said he tested transistor radio
batteries by touching them to his tounge,
to taste the sour a good battery caused!!!

Well he tried that with the B battery!

PS...It was VERY GOOD!!!!!

(just how far did he threw that battery
across the room, I forgot!)