From: "James Moritz" <J.R.Moritz@herts.ac.uk>
To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 18:42:28 -0000
Organization: University of Hertfordshire
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Subject: LF: RE: RF Burns
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Dear LF Group,

I think most of us have had experiences like Gary's at one time or
another - it is funny how things in LF antenna systems seem to go up in
smoke when they get wet. 

I have yet to personally experience the full force of the output of my
LF TX (hopefully it will stay that way!) but I have occasionally
suffered mild LF RF burns in various ways - for example, by touching a
metal stepladder that was within a couple of feet of the loading coil
while the TX was running, and while doing some experiments with ground
radials. There was no electric shock sensation, just the feeling of hot
needles. So I don't think there is a danger of electrocution from the RF
signal, but it could certainly cause serious burns - in one of my former
jobs, I got "bitten" by an RF eddy current heater running a couple of
kilowatts at about 2MHz - it made a small, neat hole right through my
finger, which took a long time to heal up.

Cheers, Jim Moritz
73 de M0BMU