THE FOOT-LONG FLAMING ARC IN THE RADIO ROOM
THE FOOT-LONG FLAMING ARC IN THE RADIO ROOM
AND WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
By: Frank McClatchie
The Radio Room has all sorts of radio equipment in it, not the least was the two 1,000 Watt transmitters that took up the bulk of the open area in the room. There was one for the high frequencies and one for very low frequencies, and each had a connection to the outside antenna system through a one foot square Wave Guide. The center conductor of this Wave Guide was a one half inch diameter copper tubing that had to traverse the space between the actual Transmitters (which were about 6.5 feet tall and located in the center of the room. This left about a one foot spacing for anyone entering the radio room to walk under these high powered conductors. These were bare copper conductors with no insulation of any kind on them, where they traversed the space that people would need to walk. Of course people never had an occasion to walk under the copper tubing while the transmitters were actually powered up, so that should not cause a problem. Another interesting fact is that the actual voltage that would be generated at the top of the low frequency transmitter would be highest at the lowest frequency.
So I decided to tune up the 1,000 watt low frequency transmitter in port one day to see just how high a voltage would be generated. Of course at 100 KHZ (the lowest frequency it could be tuned to) the frequency would be so high that any electric current would travel over the surface of the skin of a human body and never penetrate into the interior of the body, such as the heart, so could never electrocute a person. However at 1,000 Watts, the actual Arc would be extremely hot, and burn one heck of a hole in the skin. And RF burns are notoriously slow healing. So any attempt to draw an Arc from the copper tubing would require isolation from the HEAT of the Arc, such as holding an un-insulated metal wrench in a bare hand to absorb the heat generated by the Arc.
As luck would have it, the very moment that the Communications Officer happened to enter the radio room I had turned on the transmitter, and was drawing a TRULY MONUMENTAL ONE FOOT LONG FLAMING ELECTRICAL ARC from the copper tubing to the wrench in my hand. The arc extended out horizontally and because of the extreme heat of the Arc bowed up in an arc to be really impressive. Of course I was showing off to the men in the radio room by lighting a cigarette with the Arc at the point the Arc terminated in the wrench. That was a really exotic way to light a cigarette!
Of course the Flaming Arc was exactly where the Communications Officer would pass through upon entering the radio room. He was really impressed. In Fact, HE NEVER AGAIN ENTERED THE RADIO ROOM, FOR ANY REASON AS LONG AS I WAS ON BOARD THAT SHIP. Of course I have no way of knowing whether he re-entered that radio room after I left the ship at the end of my enlistment.
