3 foot 3/4 inch wooden dowel or broom stick. Put a rubber bicycle handle bar
grip on one end. Use 1/2 to 1 inch braid 3 to 4 foot long with large
alligator(crocodile) clip on one end and the other end soldered to a large
nail in the other end. That's how we made them back in the late 50's.
Healthfully yours,
DON W4BWS
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Brashear" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Discussion of AM Radio" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 2:37 PM
Subject: Re: [AMRadio] Stock or modify? BC rig "value" -- Shorting Sticks
> Speaking of "shorting sticks", I saw one a while back on the e-place,
> but didn't seriously bid on it. Can one of you guys enlighten me as to
> the best material to use for the insulator and about how long to make it?
>
> Thanks,
> Rick
>
>
>
> > Not only is a shorting stick not a bad idea, not using one is a
> > terrible idea. As someone who has spent many hours working on high
> > power transmitters, I would NEVER touch anything inside a transmitter
> > without first touching it with a shorting stick. When I do not have
> > a proper shorting stick available, I connect a grounded wire to a
> > well insulated screw driver and use that as a makeshift shorting
> > stick. There is are no allowable exceptions to the shorting stick
> > rule, as far as I am concerned.
> >
> > Never rely on meters, pilot lamps or switch positions to tell you if
> > HV is present. Switches can short and pilot lights can burn out.
> > I've seen at least one high power uplink amplifier where the
> > designers used the bleeder resistor as part of the meter multiplier
> > string. An open bleeder meant zero HV on the meter but possibly a
> > full charge on the filter caps. In that situation a shorting stick
> > could be the difference between life and death. Never, ever, touch
> > anything inside of a high power transmitter without using a stick.
> > Period!
> >
> > Alan
> > WA2DZL
> >
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> AMRadio mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html
> Post: mailto:[email protected]
> AMfone Website: http://www.amfone.net
> AM List Admin: Brian Sherrod/w5ami, Paul Courson/wa3vjb
>
