Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!salt.acc.com!ucsd!brian
From: brian@ucsd.Edu (Brian Kantor)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Zap, fry, and sizzle
Message-ID: <12042@ucsd.Edu>
Date: 28 Feb 90 16:37:41 GMT
References: <799@gold.GVG.TEK.COM> <7200051@silver>
Reply-To: brian@ucsd.edu (Brian Kantor)
Organization: The Avant-Garde of the Now, Ltd.
Lines: 21

In article <7200051@silver> commgrp@silver.ucs.indiana.edu writes:
>[...]
>A note on exploding electronics:  Some military electronic 
>devices, especially airborne ECM and crypto equipment (like the 
>CRM-114 in _Dr. Strangelove_) contains destructive devices to 
>keep the secret stuff from falling into enemy hands.

When I was just getting into ham radio lo these many years ago, one
popular surplus item was an IFF transponder (BC632??) that was pretty
cheap and could be converted to 432 MHz without too much trouble.

Problem was that the item was built on a magnesium/aluminum chassis and
had thermite bombs in it.  One surplus house apparently had sold a whole
bunch of them without removing the thermite devices, and at least one
ham had gotten a real surprise when he tried to hook up the 24v filament
voltage for the tubes in the widget.

The two that I had didn't have any thermite in them, but after stripping
one of them for parts, we tossed the chassis into a bonfire at the
beach.  Bright and shiny it was, yes indeed!
	- Brian