Stupid, stupid, stupid - OT

[Darwin, Keith]

I've been racking my brain to see if I've done anything stupid.
 
Well, there is that time I heated the sand of an ant hill with a
magnifying glass.  After 5 minutes nothing happened so I touched it see
if it was hot.  Believe me it WAS!
 
I tried to make a watch demagnetizer by winding about 5 feet of wire
around a cardboard core and plugging the ends into the wall outlet.
Thank God for circuit breakers.
 
Worst of all was the time I came in from playing outside and found my 25
watt soldering iron on my bed.  The iron was on and the bedspread was
burned / melted under the iron.  I had apparently left it plugged in
when I went outside hours earlier.
 
And of course there was that little surprise winter swim in a manure pit
but that is getting very OT!
 
- Keith KD1E -
 
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[Craig Rairdin]

How about landing long on a short runway? 6000 lbs of metal and fuel
screaming down the last half of the runway at 100+ MPH on top of a few
square inches of burning rubber, then melting rims; off the end and into the
dirt. Airport closed briefly. Took off two days later with a lighter wallet
and more respect for the laws of physics.

Craig
NZ0R
K1 #1966
K2/100 #4941

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[James Kern]

I learned that nail polish remover was actually paint thinner on the cabinet
of one of my boatanchors when I was much younger. I thought it would make a
good cleaner. It sure did.. Cleaned the cabinet right down to bare metal!
DOH! To this day I still have a reminder of that on the back corner of my
HQ-180.


James Kern
Network Administrator
Kurt S. Adler, Inc.
1107 Broadway
New York, NY 10010
212-924-0900 x222 (work)
212-807-0575 (fax)
908-451-6801 (cell)
800-209-7438 (pager)
[hidden email]


-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Darwin, Keith
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 3:04 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] Stupid, stupid, stupid - OT


I've been racking my brain to see if I've done anything stupid.
 
Well, there is that time I heated the sand of an ant hill with a magnifying
glass.  After 5 minutes nothing happened so I touched it see if it was hot.
Believe me it WAS!
 
I tried to make a watch demagnetizer by winding about 5 feet of wire around
a cardboard core and plugging the ends into the wall outlet. Thank God for
circuit breakers.
 
Worst of all was the time I came in from playing outside and found my 25
watt soldering iron on my bed.  The iron was on and the bedspread was burned
/ melted under the iron.  I had apparently left it plugged in when I went
outside hours earlier.
 
And of course there was that little surprise winter swim in a manure pit but
that is getting very OT!
 
- Keith KD1E -
 
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[James C. Hall, MD-2]

Well, I must humbly submit my most recent gaff. It's nothing like landing
long on a short runway (yikes!), but it relates to my inquiry on
troubleshooting my JPS NIR-12.

For several days now, Don W3FPR has been trying to help me figure out why
power was not being applied to this unit. It was thought to be a bad diode
running in series in the 12 volt line. Why was I getting 13 volts on the
anode and virtually no volts on the cathode side. It was as if there was no
ground on the cathode side of the circuit. I tried shorting the diode which
made an impressive smoke job of an electrolytic capacitor shunting to
ground.

Well then I retraced my steps. I discovered that when I pulled the unit out
of the shelf, the Radio Shack modular power plug (which goes to a 'wall
wart') came off the 2-prong saddle on the wire. I merely plugged it back in
the saddle. The AHAH moment came when I checked the polarity of the plug - I
had accidentally reversed the polarity of this plug (VERY easy to do with
these modular plugs). The diode was simply doing what it was designed to do
- protect the unit against dumb things like this.

In the immortal word of Homer Simpson - D'oh !!!

Don, thanks for being SOooooo patient with me !!!

73, Jamie
WB4YDL
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[Joe Malloy]

Darwin, Keith wrote:

>Worst of all was the time I came in from playing outside and found my 25
>watt soldering iron on my bed.  The iron was on and the bedspread was
>burned / melted under the iron.  I had apparently left it plugged in
>when I went outside hours earlier.
>

Soldering irons! That reminds me of another goof-up: I was working as a
radio technician for the city of Binghamton, NY, and was, of course,
quite used (ha!) to soldering.  One day, while repairing some old boat
anchor of a VHF public works radio I suddenly smelled and odd smell, it
almost (!) smelled like human flesh....well, it *was* flesh -- mine: I
had put my left hand down on top of the plugged-in iron (some Weller
unit) and apparently missed any nerve endings that might have reacted to
the heat.  I bear the scar of a Weller tip and barrel to this day -- and
I've never done that again.

Ah, the good ole days!

73,

Joe, W2RBA




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[Jim Campbell-7]

In my younger years I developed the bad habit of scratching an itch with
whatever tool I had in my hand at the time.

Yep, you guessed it.  One day I absent-mindedly scratched my head with a
hot soldering iron.  I had a patch of gray hair on the side of my head
for years until all my hair turned gray.

Anyone remember drawing an arc off the plate cap of a transmitter tube
with a wooden lead pencil?

72,

Jim
W4BQP

Joe Malloy wrote:

> I bear the scar of a Weller tip and barrel to this day -- and I've
> never done that again.
>
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[Ron D'Eau Claire-2]

Jim W4BQP wrote:
Anyone remember drawing an arc off the plate cap of a transmitter tube
with a wooden lead pencil?

---------------------------------

Many times! Only 1,000 vdc or so on there and enough RF to create a burn
that hurt like @#@#$! for a month if it found bare skin!

What was it Forrest Gump taught us? Ah, yes, "Stupid is as stupid does..."

It's mostly ignorance, though, not stupidity, and some of it pays off. Like
the engineer who was developing magnetron power oscillators for radar
systems in the 1940's and discovered that the chocolate bar in his nice
white shirt pocket had melted and made a mess. Curious, he investigated why.
The first Microwave Oven was the result - sold as the "Radar Range". At
least he got his revenge for the ruined shirt. I haven't gotten that sort of
revenge yet. Still looking (where's my lead pencil?....)

Ron AC7AC


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[EricJ-2]

At K2USA we had a BC-610 in the main studio (1964). It stood a little over
desk high and was truly the Mother of all Boatanchors. To tune it, you had
to lift a small hatch in the top surface and rotate a link coupling. But, of
course, you had to switch off the B+ first. If you forgot to do that, there
was an interlock on the small hatch to cut the B+.

We had two military operators (not hams) who handled the MARS traffic for us
so we could ham. Somebody had discovered that the interlock was not working
earlier in the day. I taped down the hatch, taped a note over that so the
ops would have to remove the note to open the hatch, told the two ops to be
absolutely sure they shut off the B+ before tuning the TX and left for home.

An hour later, I get a call that one of the ops had been electrocuted and
taken to sick call. Well he hadn't been electrocuted exactly. He opened the
hatch, rested his elbow on the top, reached in with a screwdriver to tweak
the link and hit the high voltage with the TX keyed. It blew a 1/4 inch hole
out his elbow where it contacted the top surface.

They patched him up, gave him a tetanus shot and gave him the night off. I
asked the doc why he got a tetanus shot and he said RF burns seem to cook
below the surface somewhat and the tetanus shot helps internal damage heal
faster for some reason.

I was stupid to allow them to use the TX, and I was stupid not to realize
how stupid the op was.

We get really careless with all the solid-state gear. Often even dropping a
screw in an operating circuit, or carelessly dragging a test lead through a
hot ciruit fails to do anything. Many of these circuits just bounce right
back once the short is removed (not always). The second day I had my Drake
2-NT, I moved a wire out of the way with my finger and got a little 350v DC
wake-up for my carelessness. It's something that is done routinely in my
Elecraft gear. Maybe this interesting series will remind us that there are
dangers inherent in this hobby.

Eric
KE6US
www.ke6us.com

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Ron D'Eau Claire
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 8:40 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] Stupid, stupid, stupid - OT

Jim W4BQP wrote:
Anyone remember drawing an arc off the plate cap of a transmitter tube with
a wooden lead pencil?

---------------------------------

Many times! Only 1,000 vdc or so on there and enough RF to create a burn
that hurt like @#@#$! for a month if it found bare skin!
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[Joe Malloy]

EricJ wrote:

>At K2USA we had a BC-610 in the main studio (1964). It stood a little over
>desk high and was truly the Mother of all Boatanchors. To tune it, you had
>to lift a small hatch in the top surface and rotate a link coupling. But, of
>course, you had to switch off the B+ first. If you forgot to do that, there
>was an interlock on the small hatch to cut the B+.
>
>We had two military operators (not hams) who handled the MARS traffic for us
>so we could ham. Somebody had discovered that the interlock was not working
>earlier in the day. I taped down the hatch, taped a note over that so the
>ops would have to remove the note to open the hatch, told the two ops to be
>absolutely sure they shut off the B+ before tuning the TX and left for home.
>

Ah, yes, the B+ supply!  Another stupid event I recall was when I was
"working" on my Galaxy V MkII transceiver -- the transmitter section --
and didn't realize the B+ (ca 600 volts) was *always* switched on when
the thing was even only receiving.  I brushed against the loading
capacitor (variable, natch) and, well, let's just say the scars on my
palm are still visible.

I really like the 12 volt solid state stuff.  Oh, and by the way -- it
was right after the aforementioned experience that I developed an
interest in QRP (1975)!

73,

Joe, W2RBA



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[Bill Steffey NY9H]

in high school I worked for the local tv shop...  helping in the
store and doing alot of roof antenna work, inside the hot attics
also,.,,,  so I had a lot of end of spool runs of 300 ohm
twinline...  So I used it for my s-38 antenna,,,and my telephone
line,,,, my intercom in the neighborhood and even sometimes feeding
110vac around the bedroom.

I also used to strip the twinlead with my teeth,,,, that ended one
night when i stripped the wrong wire....  the one plugged in the wall.

That probably is why later in life my company represented a company called
Mountain Computer who made HDD drives & backups for apples and IBM
pcs, before wither sold hard drives. I musta been crazy !!!
ERIC WAS THE CHIEF ENGINEER.....  we reacquainted  at Dayton as he &
Wayne introduced the K2.

bill   sn  269 & 32xx

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[Geoffrey Mackenzie-Kennedy-2]

Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:

Many times! Only 1,000 vdc or so on there and enough RF to create a burn
that hurt like @#@#$! for a month if it found bare skin!


...................................................................................................

Yes, but the arc was very pretty <g>.  If I remember correctly one could
tell if a parasitic was present by the colour of the arc!  State of the art
test method!

73,
Geoff
GM4ESD




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