RESPECT THE MODULATOR (Read 673 times)

For some reason 40KV sticks in my mind. I never saw one arc at someone but had a similar incident with a young 5 level.

I had gone to the hangar for something and returned to find him shaking his arm trying to get some feeling back into it. Remember the RF shield? Well he had pulled the hat and had the shield bundled up in his hand when he reached up to pull out the switch that cut the fans off. Evidently there was a couple inches of the shield hanging out and must of touched a cap. It traveled up his arm and out his elbow. We rolled up his sleeve and it looked like someone had take a pencil point and ground it in. Just a small black hole. As far as I remember, the transmitter wasn't even on when this happened.

The thing that used to bug me the most was when the transmitter was on and I'd dive under the nose to go to the computer. A couple times I was too far forward and caught a sweep off the antenna in my headset. It would start in one cup, travel across the back of my neck (feeling hot) and into the other cup and make this high pitched Zinging sound. Probably cooked the only two good brain cells I had.

When I was working on Saber Dogs we were issued Dosimeters. They had a handy chain to put through the button hole in the lapel of your fatigues. Seeing they had a propensity to get pulled loose and end up going up the intake, we had to put them in our pockets when engines were ruining. So we hooked them in the button hole on one of the shirt pockets. They would be collected from time-to-time, but never heard any negative results.

The Saber Dog radar was fun to play with. The weapons guys would bring boxes of large photographic flash bulbs around and mount them in special brackets in the rocket tubes. When the pilot fired the rocket switch, the bulbs would go off. That way you could tell if all the circuits were working in flight.

One thing we found out was the power of the radar. When the weapons guys parked their pickup close to a radar that was running, you could aim the dish at the back of the truck and set off the flash bulbs in the boxes. More than once someone had to hit the box with a blast of C02 to put the flames out.

When I was on Thuds at Nellis, we had to put up yellow pylons with yellow ropes attached to keep people out of the danger zone. There was even a red arc painted on the ramp that was the edge of the danger zone. But no personal monitor.

After I left the 86s, I never saw another small Dosimeter.
Wonder if they still use them.
Jim
:god_bless_usa

In 69-70 at Loring we used to wear neon bulb (indicator lights) rigged in an aligator clip. Saw one glow a bit in 3 years. Must have been okay by then, I did have a daughter. I will say if did see a flourescne tube glow one night.

AJ