Subj : RF Burn
To : Ed Vance
From : Roy Witt
Date : Mon Jun 23 2014 12:04 pm
Greetings Ed!
EV> Howdy! Roy,
EV> On April 19, 2014 You wrote about getting a RF Burn because the Wife
EV> pressed the Microphone PTT Button while You were adjusting the Gamma
EV> Match on a Yagi Antenna, and later wrote it was 5 Watts of RF Power.
At the time, that was 5 watts of 'input' power to the finals of a Browning
Golden Eagle AM base-station. Maybe 3 watts at the antenna.
EV> On May 23, 2014 when I wrote if I keyed up my TS-520S and touched the
EV> antenna that was connected to the TS-520S I thought I would get a RF
EV> Burn from the Unmodulated UpperSideBand SSB Supressed Carrier.
Right. I have a Bird Wattmeter using a 25watt HF slug, my HR2510 shows no
RF output while keying the mic in SSB mode. AM or CW OTH, will show 10
watts into a dummy load (i.e. 1:1 SWR).
EV> I've been thinking about that message and thought a NE-2 Neon Light
EV> Bulb would had been a Much Safer Way to Indicate If Or Not there was
EV> any RF on my 20M Inverted Vee Antenna If I Had Tried That Test.
Or a field strength meter. to show any RF that may be there. Key the mic
and then go outside and sweep the area around your 20M vee. Then key your
520 in CW mode and see what you get. Better yet, try touching your
inverted Vee at the place where RF current is supposed to be highest. You
should get a kick out of that.
EV> I haven't seen anyone talking one way or another about that so I
EV> thought I would send this additional comment to You.
I just did a test of what I meant and my tests show this to be true.
