Boatanchors, physics, and earthquakes

[Dave]

Hello all from the previously shaking Pacific Northwest.  I was
in a meeting when 'all hell broke loose' and ran home to see if
my stacked radios suffered any damage.

My observations have resulted in the following new Principal
of Phsyics, 'Dave's Law of Boatanchor Stacking'

"Boatanchors in motion tend to stay in motion until gravity makes
them settle down again" and
"The best boatanchors are the ones that fall and break"

Or words to that effect.  Bottom line is DON'T stack radios in
a store room one atop the other.  I had a TX-1 on the bottom,
a DX-100 on that, and then on top was an HQ-100 and HQ-110.
The HQ's are now trapezoidal and are probably going to be parted
out if I can't bang them straight.  Several SB-xxx radios also took
a dive from similar stacking, as did a number of smaller items in the
room I store radios awaiting restoration.

Also a row of Heathkits on a top shelf all followed Murphy's law
regarding toast and jelly, in that they all fell face first and broke their
meter movements in unison.

The central radio room sustained little damage, but ALL the radios are
all at goofy angles and have feet hanging over the edge.  Another
minute of earthquake and the S-Line and all the Drakes would have
surely been on the floor.  My JUST ACQUIRED Conar twins, that
just arrived YESTERDAY are on the floor!  Rats.  Hopefully they still
work.

Moral:  Boatanchors are HEAVY.  When the shelves under them are
being tossed to-and-fro in an earthquake, the radios just walk away.
Any of you that may also be in earthquake zones should do as I am
doing tonight and coming up with a way to shore things up.   The shelf
system I use is rock solid and firmly planted to the house.  So I'm going
to install a front 'lip' on the shelves to prevent radios sliding off.  As
far
as stacking?  Won't be doing THAT again any time soon.

Oh well - no serious house damage done, other than broken glass and
knicknacks and such, and the 4BTV is sitting at a 45 to the horizon.
But the pipes all work and the roof stayed in place, so
all in all not a bad one for being 7.0 on whatever they call the scale these
days.

Best regards,

Dave WB7AWK
http://www.boatanchors.com - see the 'BEFORE' pictures of my shack!!