{"id":2572,"date":"2021-12-05T16:39:44","date_gmt":"2021-12-05T20:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.summersidearc.com\/?p=2572"},"modified":"2021-12-05T16:39:44","modified_gmt":"2021-12-05T20:39:44","slug":"this-ham-radio-is-unsafe-at-any-frequency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.summersidearc.com\/index.php\/2021\/12\/05\/this-ham-radio-is-unsafe-at-any-frequency\/","title":{"rendered":"This ham radio is unsafe at any frequency….."},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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This ham radio is unsafe at any frequency<\/h1>\n

When we were kids we rode bicycles without pads and helmets. We drank sugary drinks. We played with chemistry sets and power tools. We also built things that directly used AC line current. [Mike] remembers and built one, presumably more to discuss the safety precautions around things that can shock you and not entice you to duplicate it. He calls it The\u00a0Retro QRP Widowmaker<\/strong>, if that\u2019s any kind of a hint. (Video of this unsafe transmitter also embedded below.)<\/p>\n

The design showed up from time to time in old electronic magazines. Built on an open board and with no ground wire, the radio didn\u2019t need a complex power supply. This wasn\u2019t limited to transmitters, either. Some TVs and radios had a \u201chot chassis.\u201d That\u2019s why we were taught to touch an unknown chassis with the back of your hand first. A shock will contract your muscles and that will pull your arm away instead of making you grab the electrically active part.<\/p>\n

For safety\u2019s sake, [Mike] used an isolation transformer to keep from having a disaster. A big resistor drops a lot of voltage to supply the tube in the circuit. There was a neon bulb to indicate if you have your plugs the wrong way around making things dangerous.<\/p>\n

We enjoyed [Mike\u2019s] excellent code using an old J-38 style key. Not everyone uses a paddle or a keyboard. Nowadays, you don\u2019t need high voltages for little transmitters. Also, $50 today is probably worth less than $10 was back then. If you have a hankering for vintage gear, try old transistors, instead.<\/p>\n

Source:
\nhttps:\/\/hackaday.com\/2021\/12\/03\/this-ham-radio-is-unsafe-at-any-frequency\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0Our thanks to<\/span>
\n<\/span>Stephen Walters<\/strong><\/em>
\nProfessional Celebrity Photographer \/ G7VFY
\nwww.facebook.com\/mister35mm<\/a>
\nTel 07956-544202<\/span>
\nfor the above information<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This ham radio is unsafe at any frequency When we were kids we rode bicycles without pads and helmets. We drank sugary drinks. We played with chemistry sets and power tools. We also built things that directly used AC line Read more\u2026 <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.summersidearc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.summersidearc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.summersidearc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.summersidearc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.summersidearc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.summersidearc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2574,"href":"http:\/\/www.summersidearc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572\/revisions\/2574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.summersidearc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.summersidearc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.summersidearc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}