You don't step off a combine when harvesting under HVAC lines. You learn to jump off real quick. I think it is capacitive coupling. The larger combines pack a real wallop when under HVAC lines. I lived near Portland Oregon for a long time. There was a 480 KV line about a mile away. Fizz with a 180 HZ component. I could not use 160 meters when there was any fog because of Corona discharge. Tree N6TR lived near this same line for a while. He even convinced them to turn it off once to see if it was his problem as well. Maybe he will jump in on this topic.
Lee K7TJR OR -----Original Message----- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Gary Smith Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2015 9:45 AM To: Topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: HVDC I have never had any personal experience with HVDC but I do have a personal experience with HVAC power lines that I will never forget. I lived in Highland Indiana, about 1/2 mile south of I-80 and in between there were HVAC power lines and there were no houses underneath them and it was a perfect place for me to take my fiddle to practice. I was just starting to play this new instrument and the animals in the house didn't like the sound of me learning so to be kind I went and parked underneath the power lines, raised the trunk on my Dodge Caravan and practiced for several hours. When I went to leave, the car wouldn't start though the engine would turn over and all of the features like radio and lights were working perfectly. I had never had a problem with that before with this car. I searched as much as I could to find fuse-wise what might be the problem but nothing was amiss. I looked in the Haynes repair book that I kept in the car and it showed a connector leading to the fuel pump in the undercarriage, between the passenger's door and the side sliding door. I went underneath to see if that connection had become compromised. I was in a T-shirt, it was summer, warm and a little sweaty. As I was working underneath I felt what I thought was a bee sting on my forearm. Jerked the arm away but didn't see a Bee and went back to trying to find that connection and I felt another sting close to where the first one was. When I looked I saw it wasn't a Bee but instead, it was where my arm lightly brushing against the body of the car. The sting was from a small electric arc and it was burning my skin. There was nothing in the car that would cause that to happen and then I realized the power lines were overhead and that me being on the ground and touching the metal of the car was completing a connection from what I assume was inductance from the metal in the car, gathered from the lines overhead. I called a friend to come and tow me back home and while I was sitting on the rear of the minivan waiting for him, I realized I was feeling a consistent vibration and that I could especially notice it by touching the rear bumper. It felt for the world like the car was running and I was feeling the vibration of the engine. The car was vibrating at 60 HZ from those overhead lines that had earlier caused me to get a small, white, pinpoint burn on my forearm. It turns out the problem was the fuel pump was not working and whether it was damaged from that HV electricity or if it just by happenstance failed at that time, I have no idea but I never forgot that. And that was the day I also learned that fuel pumps were now being built into the fuel tank, surrounded by gasoline... I learned a lot that day. I have 11 years of formal education in healthcare but I'm not an authority as to damage that electromagnetics may cause. My father worked around electronics and ham radio his whole life and died at 97, never having cancer or anything like it. I'm not concerned much at all about RF exposure, but after experiencing what I personally did, I will never willingly live close to HVAC power lines if I have the choice. 73, Gary KA1J Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband