It doesn't hurt for newbies to be shown, with a live-fire demonstration, why the bang stick is so named. ?it's something to do with junky old HV caps in the few uF range.

?

Kinda fun, too.

?

"That was as loud as a gunshot. ?You know what a real gunshot can do, right? ?HV will make you just as dead."

?

Well, not always, but we've all made the mistake of getting across HV. ?Most of us more than once. ?However, all of us still here have lived to tell about it :)

?

73

Jim N6OTQ

?

---

From: Craig Sawyers <c.sawyers@...>
To: TekScopes@...
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2013 1:21 PM
Subject: RE: [TekScopes] OT: WD40 depressing experience

>? I was shown the transmitter, the circuit breakers, the warning
> stickers, the dead man's bars, the shorting sticks, etc. and expected to
carry
> on with due respect for my own health and safety.
>
> Health and safety are good things but being treated like I am intelligent
and
> competent are also desirable activities.

Absolutely.? I learnt the SIDE rule - Switch off (duur...), Isolate (from
incoming power), Dump (residual charge) and Earth (with a stick).? It isn't
rocket science - most people have only to be shown how to do it once, and
then left to get on with it.

Craig