Remembrances of vacuum tube days
As a young teenager, I developed a love for electronics which became a lifelong love affair. In those days vacuum tubes were the norm and solid state devices such as transistors weren't in usage then....
Forum Discussion
Speaking of 2nd Anode (And high power broadcast (And ham) transmitters) one Station engineer I Know has what he calls a "Jesus Stick"
Now as it happens I know (From observation not personal expierence) Where that name comes from
IT's a well insulated handel on a rod that's connected to ground
You poke around the high voltage parts and if one is still hot.. Well
OH JESUS is a common exclamation! when you find a fully charged capacitor.
True story
Two Radio engineers one legally blind (has only side vision can not see straight ahead) The other one opens a cabinet.. Thinking it was the Audio Cabinet (nothing dangerous in there) Turns out it was the High Voltage cabinet.
Two brass bars one firmly connected to ground and you can guess what the other connected to. Block of porcelain between them hooked to the door. The top bar is free to fall onto the bottom bar when the door is opened.
Knocked out power to half of the Building (A Office tower)
Or as the stick is named OH JESUS
(Uh. Wrong door there Charlie?)
Though they do make thousand watt and multi-thousand watt Solid State Transmitters Tubes still rule in the multi-thousand stations.
There is a podcast (Ham nation) and a few years ago they have an episode I think it was title 1.2 Gigawatt or some such (the power of the Car that DeLorean tine travel series Back to the Future)
They show a multi thousand watt transmitter
Several episodes include "Tales from the transmitter site" (The aforementioned Radio engineer of Jesus Stick attribution) and he shows off one of the Transmitter tubes and of course his stick.
Now as it happens I know (From observation not personal expierence) Where that name comes from
IT's a well insulated handel on a rod that's connected to ground
You poke around the high voltage parts and if one is still hot.. Well
OH JESUS is a common exclamation! when you find a fully charged capacitor.
True story
Two Radio engineers one legally blind (has only side vision can not see straight ahead) The other one opens a cabinet.. Thinking it was the Audio Cabinet (nothing dangerous in there) Turns out it was the High Voltage cabinet.
Two brass bars one firmly connected to ground and you can guess what the other connected to. Block of porcelain between them hooked to the door. The top bar is free to fall onto the bottom bar when the door is opened.
Knocked out power to half of the Building (A Office tower)
Or as the stick is named OH JESUS
(Uh. Wrong door there Charlie?)
Though they do make thousand watt and multi-thousand watt Solid State Transmitters Tubes still rule in the multi-thousand stations.
There is a podcast (Ham nation) and a few years ago they have an episode I think it was title 1.2 Gigawatt or some such (the power of the Car that DeLorean tine travel series Back to the Future)
They show a multi thousand watt transmitter
Several episodes include "Tales from the transmitter site" (The aforementioned Radio engineer of Jesus Stick attribution) and he shows off one of the Transmitter tubes and of course his stick.
