The ambient atmosphere in which we live today is full of various kinds of radio waves.  I have been told in the past, that as long as you are walking, sitting, eating, sleeping, etc., various radio waves are going through your body.

Conspiracy theorists contend that some of these radio waves are emitted by radio transmitters in secret locations.

Some of the earliest radio waves were picked up by crystals.  The crystals did not use electricity to operate, but could pick up the transmissions traveling through space.  It has been proposed that other planets, stars, etc. send out radio waves which we hear as static.

Here is an interesting experiment.  Hold a fluorescent light fixture tube parallel to a C.B. radio antenna.  Did it light up without having any electrical input?

I was working on a schoolhouse that had been moved to Spokane’s South Hill area (near all the radio transmission towers).  Before it had been moved, I had removed all the wire and all the breakers from the panel.

I set up a temporary power supply on the job site for the various trades to use during the project.  Within the building, the metal conduit runs were all empty.

One afternoon after everyone had rolled up their cords and left for the day, I could hear someone talking.  I traced it out, and it was coming from one of the classrooms.  That was the classroom that contained the panel.

I put my ear up to the empty panel and could hear a local radio station just as clear as a bell.

Another time we were moving a building to the South Hill.  I could reach up into the dark attic and move the empty conduit.  When I did I could see sparks coming from the moving conduit.  That stopped when I grounded the service.

I one time met a man who lived out in the country.  He told me that he had put up an out-building with metal siding.  When he walked into it, he could hear the local radio station broadcast in his building.  He searched it out and found a place that needed two screws to be driven, in order to tighten up the attached metal.  No more radio broadcasts.

I don’t know why he did that.

Today, on a job site, it’s not uncommon for some workers to bring a radio and “share” their music with you.  Sometimes it is so loud it almost drowns out the sounds of construction.

I don’t know why they do that either.

There are two things that make electricians worry; fire and electrical shock.  The National Electric Code is written around these two dangers.

One old timer electrician told me that it was very difficult to start a fire with electricity.  All combinations had to be just right.  To start any fire, conditions have to be just right.  For instance, try starting a campfire with damp wood.

Electrical fires do happen.  There are trained fire investigators who can get into a burned area and determine how, why, and where a fire started.  When electricity is the root cause, the NEC is adjusted to meet experience.

I have worked on a number of jobs after the fire was out.  Insulation really does make a difference.  Many times I have seen Romex (NMB) wire cable, with all of the wrapping burned off.  But where the Romex enters the insulation, the wire is in very good shape.

Making electrical repairs in such an instance, I can put in a junction box and pick up the undamaged wire in the insulation.  Thereafter I can finish the circuit with new wire.

One particular job I recall necessitated replacing almost all the wiring in the building.  I worried a lot about the area where I couldn’t get to the wiring.  After 30 years the building is still standing, so I have decided to quit worrying.

In one apartment that had burned (1 unit out of 10), the manager wanted the power turned back on before the walls and ceiling were repaired.  I devised a way to re-wire the place and leave the wall building to later, thus providing power to the area before the carpenters “renovated” the fire damage.

It must have worked, because I got paid and no one called to complain about anything.

Back in the ‘90s there was a firestorm created by outdoor, high voltage electrical wires.  It took a combination of high winds and trees that came down on high voltage power lines.  The fire spread for miles.

We wired a number of new buildings that replaced the ones that had been destroyed.

Electrician wages have always varied according to where you are, and when you worked there.  Union wages were always more than non-Union.  Big city wages were always more than small community wages.

I started out with nothing.  Literally.  The first thing I ever did in the electrical trade was to set up a wind charger on the family farm.  (Blog post #1)  When I went to work for a family friend, helping him change farm houses from wind chargers to the REA (Blogs 2-4), I can’t even remember now what I was paid, but I’m sure it was less than a dollar an hour.

The only expense I had in those days was gasoline, and it was at $.21 per gallon.  I wasn’t paying much attention to wages at that time.  I was more interested in learning.

The first wages I can remember receiving was in Glasgow, Montana.  I was working for an electrical contractor that paid me the grand sum of $1.50 per hour.

One day a gentleman came around saying he represented the U.S. government.  He wanted to know how many had served in the military.  There were two of us employed on that job.  The other guy had served in the army, so he was given papers to fill out.  The papers were to record how long he had worked at whatever kind of work he was doing.  He was supposed to fill them out weekly.

I told the government man that the military had notified me that they didn’t want me and I didn’t argue with them.  (Maybe they had determined that I was too crazy, “but it kept me from going insane.”)

The government man gave me the papers anyway, saying it wouldn’t hurt to fill them out weekly and send them in.

The other guy faithfully filled out his papers weekly.  I worked with him for several years and he finally received a certificate from the government saying he was a journeyman electrician.

I never sent any paperwork in.  I was too independent and I thought it was a waste of time.  I got a certificate at the same time as the other fellow.  I was really surprised!

My wife tells me I save big boxes, in which to put little boxes, the certificate must be among my souvenirs somewhere.

As I wasn’t in the IBEW, my wages gradually went up.  By the time I left Montana in 1969 my wages had gotten up to just under $5.00 per hour.