[BC] Transmitter Safety

[Gary Peterson]

" anyone else do something foolish like that?
Bill "

Sometime around 1966, I was working at a 5 kW daytimer.  One evening, I
pulled sign off shift.  After turning the Western Electric Doherty off and
killing all the breakers, I used a shorting stick to ensure everything was
discharged.  I then began to replace one of the 343A PA tubes that appeared
gassy (a violet glow had begun to appear in the glass portion of the
envelope).

I opened up the upper doors on the PA cabinet and leaned in to disconnect
the filament/grid leads.  At that moment, a large spark jumped from the end
of a G4-sized mica capacitor, mounted on the back wall of the cabinet, to my
head.  It wasn't the spark that did the most damage.  I think I banged my
head into almost every part of the cabinet in a 500 millisecond effort to
extricate myself from the transmitter.  Several parts of my scalp were
bleeding and the red liquid was dripping off my nose.  I sat on the floor,
in front of the transmitter, for God knows how long, wondering if I had
killed myself.  

I had neglected to go outside and look at the weather.  A thunderstorm was
building and sparks were jumping the Johnny balls in the guy wires.  It was
the static buildup on the antenna that got me.  Lesson learned!  I never go
inside an AM transmitter without shorting the antenna connection to ground.
I carry several braided straps with big honkin' alligator clips on each end,
for just such situations.

I have seen some mean static buildup during wind storms and snow storms,
too.

Gary, KØCX
CE KFXS, KOUT, KKMK, KRCS, KKLS & KBHB
Schurz Communications, Inc.
Rapid City & Sturgis, SD