led death from ssb radiation?

[thekeip]

I've been asked by an owner of a wooden boat with wood mast whether the masthead lights he's contemplating (OGM) could be killed by a burst of energy when the SSB transmits. Salesman says yes, I say no but I concede that it may be possible, given the proximity of the antenna to the wiring unprotected by a metal mast. I've never heard of it, but I wonder....
Howard Keiper
Sea Quest
Berkeley

[Hartley18]

Interesting question.. How far away from the wiring is the antenna?

If I remember my lectures correctly, radiation power drops off exponentially with distance from the antenna, so to fry anything you would need to run the wiring within inches of the antenna itself. The only SSB antennas I'm familiar with are backstay and masthead types and neither would fall into this category.

If in doubt, run screened cable (coax) to the masthead lights - but unless the lights are really cheap rubbish, I would not have thought it was a problem. Be interested to know if it is, though...