[aprssig] Amazing resistors

[Steve]

I tell my kids the stuff that I did as a kid would bring Homeland 
Security down on me today. I'M AMAZED I HAVE ALL MY FINGERS TODAY! Steve 
KB1CHU

On 9/8/2014 11:59 AM, Curt, WE7U wrote:
> On Sat, 6 Sep 2014, Al Wolfe wrote:
>
>>   In my mis-spent youth I was involved with many projects that 
>> required a squib, that is, an electrical igniter  After a lot of 
>> trial and error we settled on some very thin steel wire. Basically, 
>> we found some picture hanging wire and discovered it was 
>> seven-stranded. Unwinding one of the strands gave us a single thin 
>> steel wire that was perfect for our projects. It would instantly 
>> explode with 120 volts applied and glow brightly at 12 volts before 
>> oxidizing and disintegrating.
>
> Hah!  In junior high or early high school I figured out that a 
> 30-gauge wire-wrap wire made a better igniter for my Century rocket 
> engines than the expensive igniter wires they sold... Saved money 
> -and- made every launch successful.  I also wired my launcher to the 
> family's car battery instead (launched from the driveway), which also 
> increases reliability.
>
> I claim to know nothing about blowing up resistors on purpose... Really.
>