Good Day All, Well, I've read a LOT of tales of tragic near-misses here that truly would fall under the category of "...accident". But how about a near-fatal, near-miss occurance that surely deserves to be preceded by the header of "STOOOOOPID"...?!
It was 1976, & the budding, relatively newbie Ham --- i.e. yours truly --- decided that the 20-foot electrical extension cord in the basement with the intermittent receptacle head would better serve the world of VE3CUI as fodder for hook-up wire...and so, to this end, a large METAL-handled carving knife was procured from mother's cutlery drawer, a tight loop was made at the receptacle end of the extension cord, and I diligently proceeded to cut away through the wire... BWAMMM!!!! I was near-blinded by a flash of white & blue arc / spark, and the knife was literally flung away from my hands, hitting the floor --- hard. Yup --- the extension cord WAS STILL PLUGGED INTO THE AC WALL RECEPTACLE 20' AWAY AT THE OTHER END...! I suffered no ill-effects, other than receiving the (then) fright of my life...but the knife did NOT fare as well: it bore witness to my stupidity by way of what looked just exactly like a spotweld "nugget", about the size of your baby pink nail, right where it had contacted the 120 VAC. They say that The Almighty looks after drunkards and idiots in this life: I surely had NOT been drinking at the time, so I humbly defer to my lifetime membership within the latter category...! ~73!~ Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/amradio@mailman.qth.net/ List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html Post: mailto:AMRadio@mailman.qth.net To unsubscribe, send an email to amradio-requ...@mailman.qth.net with the word unsubscribe in the message body.
