I have a very large tank circuit 4-811A amplifier. It was built by local ham (and legend) Art W1KK. It has an accompanying 1500V rack-mounted power supply that has a 120V junction box and two outlets that I use to run a few shack lights and accessories. The amp weighs in at around 40 or 50 lbs and the power supply weighs a hernia-inducing hundred or so pounds. Needless to say, this unit produces quite a lot of heat -- and quite a lot of power.

There are no grid alarms, no digital meters, no quick QSK. "The W1KK" -- or "fats" -- takes ten minutes to tune, since the presets change depending on the day. When guest ops are over, I insist on tuning it (or leaving it parked on one band the whole time) since it becomes such a process.

Every so often, "fats" stops working properly and I have to pull the cover off and tweak something. That hallowed event occured today, and I did the usual tests to see if it was a known problem, bad tube, cold joint, or the like. As it turned out, it was none of these things. Off came the cover, out came the tubes, and the multimeter went to work with my basic (at best) knowledge of pi.

I'll cut to the interesting part. I shocked the shame out of myself. After fixing what I thought was a cold joint, I turned the thing back on. The problem still wasn't fixed, so I got frustrated and reached back inside. I'm not entirely sure what I touched, but I know it nearly knocked me on my back. My fingertips were black and I smelled something cooking, so I knew it was a serious hit.

The ice is still on my hand. My fingertips are still tingling. The shack is still in disarray. BUT...the amplifier problem managed to fix itself, if only at my expense. Sometimes I wonder if Fats just does these things to shock me and have a quiet chuckle. She still purrs at a quiet kW, so I'll endure the annual shock if I have to!

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and all the best to you and yours. Oh, and always unplug the amp before you reach inside. de N0HI