Posted on 02/28/2010 4:53:02 PM PST by ConservativeStatement
A 27-year-old man trying to set up an antenna for a pirate radio station was electrocuted in the backyard of his home Sunday, a Fort Lauderdale police spokesman said.
Authorities were called to the home on the 1100 block of Northwest 18th Court about noon, said the spokesman, Frank Sousa. Details were sketchy, but authorities said the electrocution appeared to be accidental.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
Usually overhead service to a house has both hots insulated and they are wrapped around a bare ground for physical support and to complete the circuit for the center tap to the pole pig. It would take a serious impact, more than a casual brush, to break this cable or even strip the insulation.
If he touched a 5 kV local feed thinking it was telephone wires, that would be another story.
Standard feeder (last leg) is 7200V, the transformers are 60:1 step down to 240v two phase. I work high voltage/high current lines in the water & sewer department. We always have two people for safety, especially around the 480v lines.
- Traveler
I heard 80% of all automobile accidents are accidental.
That would mean of course 20% are on purpose.
7.2 kV with beaucoup amps behind it can create quite an arc.
There was a former baseball player named Bo Diaz who died when he tried to hook up a satellite dish on the roof of his house; the dish crushed his neck.
I've been called out for power failures to lift stations, only to find that the jacks (fuses) on the transformers are tripped. While waiting for the power company to arrive, I've looked at the base of the pole and found two halves of a squirrel located about 10 feet from each other.
- Traveler
I heard that WC Fields used to tell his chauffeur to deliberately crash into stupid drivers just for the hell of it.
I’d love to do that if I could afford it.
“Whoops, ka boom!”
ping
I’ve been involved to one degree or another with everything from CB antennas to Ham to TV antennas. Even among those who know the dangers, you still hear about someone once in a while who electrocutes himself when an antenna starts to fall and they fail to let go.
RIP.
Shocking
And there’s another idiot in the pool who obviously doesn’t see anything wrong with running a power cord through the water to the gizmo in the middle of the pool.
Roger was wrapping up his repairs on a radio antenna when he realized he had left his 250 pound tool chest on the top of the antenna. Not wanting to carry it down, he took the smart route. There was a rope threaded to a pully at the top of the antenna. He figured he could anchor it at the base, go up to tie the tool chest to the other side, then come down and lower the chest to the ground.
Well he went did all that, but he forgot basic physics. His tool chest weighed about 250 pounds. he only weighed about 180 pounds. So when he released the anchor, instead of lowering the tool chest down, he found himself being launched into the air.
Halfway up the tower he meets his tool chest, giving himself a concussion and gashes on his arms. When his hands got to the top, his fingers got pulled into the pully, breaking three of them. As that was happening, his tool chest was hitting the ground. It hit hard enough that the bottom fell out and all his tools spilled out onto the ground.
Well, now his tool chest only weighed about 10 pounds. So he found himself plummeting down the tower, only to meet the empty chest halfway again, breaking a foot and slashing a leg. Then, he lands with a thud on his feet and collapses on top of his pile of tools. At this point he is fairly well beat up and dazed. So what does he do?
He lets go of the rope.
Pray for common sense to return to this country!
Why? Because our Press cannot figure this out.
It’s amazing to me how so many people believe that those wires are really connected to a live power source. The guys in the picture are engaged in some major chain yanking.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.