In article ,
Old Nick wrote:

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 22:31:24 -0500, Nick Hull
vaguely proposed a theory
......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Love doing that sort of stuff, and I also end up going primitive and
making all sorts of Heath Robinson electromechanical stuff. We also
get serious ligtning. Every time we get a storm the phone starts
ringing all on its own, then the exchange dies :-

I used to lose phones, answering machines, etc to lightning but I
installed a multi-part srrestor of my own design and haven't lost any
equipment in 20 years. The arrestor occasionally has parts explode but
usually can be repaired cheaply.

Then there is the "lightning" that comes with me building it! You can
_see_ a relay blow up! G

I modified the RS dialer myself; relays "push the buttons". Relays may
seem obsolete but they are more immune to lightning, and every couple of
years I get REAL lightning. You could probably do it more elegantly
with transistors but I go for crude reliability. Besides, once it's
working I stop fixing it.


--
Free men own guns, slaves don't
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