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