Hello Rik and all,
Now I am nearly sure this was the UVB, the result is almost like
spending too much time at the sun, with the skin dry etc. This happened
only on the side of my face directly exposed to the loading coil.
Sincerely, I had no idea the coronal effect might be something to care
about due to possible health injuries (excluding direct touching of a HV
wire).
Anyway, I will take an old plastic trash bin, wind some 100 turns and
put it up on the roof, between the vertical antenna part and the top
load. This will hopefully reduce the voltage and power losses inside the
club room. The loading coil inside the club will then act only as the PA
output matching network and a variometer.
All in all, this is something to add in descriptions of loading coils:
(invisible) coronal effects may cause UVB radiation that might be
harmful for the skin after longer exposure.
BTW I checked that the UV radiation level is not enough for the coil to
act as a banknote checker ;)
73! Marek SQ5BPM
Rik Strobbe wrote:
Marek,
UV-light can cause irritation (or "burning") of the skin at
intensities far below what can be detected by UV-sensitive markers.
It's just a matter of how long you are exposed to it.
Maybe you could try a good "sun-block" cream (the ones you use when
going to the beach in summer) on you face.
If it is UV that causes the rash: glass blocks UV rather effective. It
would stop teh UV while still allowing visual control of the coil.
73,
Rik ON7YD & OR7T
Citeren Marek SQ5BPM <[email protected]>:
Hello Peter,
Peter Martinez wrote:
From Peter G3PLX:
Marek:
The 'rash' or 'burning' effect makes me think of sunburn or
exposure
to ultra-violet light.
Could it be that there is some ionisation, perhaps due to high
voltages, which gives off UV radiation which could affect the skin
of
the face if it's directly in front of the operator? It would be
easy
to test this idea by operating the equipment in a low light level
and
probing the area with a some object that was known to be
fluorescent,
like a UV-sensitive marker pen.
I thought about something connected with the high voltage as well -
maybe high electrostatic field etc. I didn't know that ionisation may
cause UV radiation. I will check the idea, placing a banknote near
the
coil output ;)
The UV idea makes sense, the rash appeared on the side of my face
being
in direct 'exposure' to the coil, not at the side of the
transmitter.
73! Marek SQ5BPM
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