Well last night at our local Radio Club, I fitted a 3-pin mains plug to the club's soldering iron, why you may ask, well as part of the Intermediate assesment, the candidate has to undertake some practical work, construct a small circuit to demonstrate the understanding of voltage, current and ohm's law, and calibrate a VFO amongst other things.
For someone who used to repair televisions and video's for a living, well lets say of course it has been interesting, but also a little frustrating, still I am no better than the next person and I still have to show that I understand, so it's back to basics.
Funny thing was though I had to redo the mains plug, Ron who runs the assesments, failed me on it !!
And no I didnt get the live and neutral wires mixed up.
I didn't make the earth wire quite long enough, as in the picture it should loop around, so that if the live/neutral wires did become detached, the earth wire should at least still be connected.
Live and learn. :-)
Oh, nearly forgot, September 20th for the exam.
Hi Paul, I wish you luck! 73 Paul
ReplyDeleteWell done "Speedy TV" i have great faith in you passing full licence here we come.
ReplyDelete73
Ken G3SDW
Hi Paul, we do have a similair question in the amateur radio exam about the mains plug. The earth wire should be a little longer then the mains wires for the reason you wrote down in you blog. But they never told me at school and I'm a official electrician !!! So, when I learned for the exam back in 1998 it was the first time I heard about this. I don't blame you for this mistake at all hi ;-) By the way do all mains plugs in england have a fuse in it? Never opened one when I was in England...in the Netherlands it isn't the case. But I think our plugs are not as save as the english and the american ones.73, Bas
ReplyDeleteHi Paul,
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the exam.
73 Kevin GW0KIg
Good morning Paul,
ReplyDeleteAll the best on the intermediate exam, I still can remember my jitters when I did my upgrade code exam.
Mike
Just in case I forget to say so, good luck for September 20th. It'll be great to have a little extra power when you turn up the thermostat! I bet you'll also get some great contacts. I got on that dusty old mic for the first time this month yesterday and spoke to Hans up in the Shetland Islands, so don't worry, I'm not retiring yet! 73 Adam
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the comments, not used to this much interest !
ReplyDeletePaul, PA0PSY, thanks and fingers crossed !
Ken, G3SDW, those 'speedy' days seem such a long time ago now, lets hope some of the knowledge comes back.
Hi Kevin, (GW0KIG), thanks and hopefully I wont need any luck !
Hi Mike, VE3WDM, thanks also, and code eh, lucky we dont have to do morse if we dont want to, I know I am missing out on a special mode...at the moment.
And last, but definately by no means least, hi Adam (M6RDP) - Sure the extra power (when needed) should be usefull in the pile-up's, and nice contact into Shetland, I love those sorts of inter-G.