[Sabagley]

Walked through my grandfathers house this weekend (he passed away and it is currently on the market), I saw this and can't figure out what it would be for.

He was a Dam electrician (no really, he worked on the dams on the Snake) and a Ham radio operator.

I am thinking it had something to do with the ham antennae that was out side that wall, but the radio was in another room.

Any ideas?

Please no hack comments, or I'll have to whoop ya!

 

[woodchuck2]

Knife switch controlling the power to something. With open contacts i would hope low voltage.

 

[jlsconstruction]

I looked at the pics before I finished reading your post. My first thought was cb radio, then you said ham. I would guess something with that

 

[Texas Wax]

Switching for different antenna arrays? (Ham Radio)

 

[480sparky]

Cable looks like old flat twin-lead. I'd say it's used to switch between two antennas.

 

[Sabagley]

Next time I go down there, I will see if I can find out if it goes through the wall somewhere. I'm sure prospective buyers would rather not see that!

There is also a light switch in the hall that has a red light on it that nobody knows what it does.
Turn it on, nothing happens, no lights or fans turn on, no nukes launch.....

 

[jproffer]

I've been in an old house that had switches with lights on them like what you describe. Some were for the garage lights and some for the basement lights. I suppose so they wouldn't stay on for weeks at a time. Have you checked any outbuildings with that switch?...or outdoor receptacles....garage receptacles....

BTW, sorry to hear about your grandpa...always sucks to lose someone close, even if it's expected with age or whatever reason.

 

[Sabagley]

Thank you.

He lived a very interesting life, WWII, won his property in a raffle, raised 6 kids in the basement while he built the upstairs, worked on the dams as they where being built, and after he retired he started an excavation business.


I'll bet you're right about the switch, it probably turns on lights in the basement. It's located close to the master bedroom and the kids rooms were in the basement.

 

[480sparky]

It's not an on-off switch. There's no way for the knife blades to make contact with the ends that have the cable attached at the same time.

There's terminals in the center at the pivot point of the blades. It's an A-B selector switch.

 

[Sabagley]

There are two unidentified switches.

I believe you are right about the knife switch, and jproffer is probably right about the light switch with the little red light on it.

 

[The Coastal Craftsman]

Yeah prob just his switch to change from vertical to horizontal antennas. Never seen one done like this but i would hope its not high voltage going through that thing lol

 

[SectorSecurity]

The last time I had a light switch that didn't control any lights it lead to a wire that was just dangling in the basement, some hack moved the lights to a different switch and just left a hot wire coming off the switch hanging in the basement, turn the switch on and the wire was hot, turn it off the wire was cold. Glad I checked it with a volt meter before i grabbed it.

 

[B.Scott]

I'm wondering if the knife switch controls speakers. Maybe it was setup to allow him to hear the radio chatter from another room.

The lighted switch; I'm thinking attic light.

Sorry for your loss.

Bob

 

[rrk]

It was to disconnect the antenna in case of lightning, my father had one also. If a storm was in the area he would through the switch to isolate radios
Not sure if it would have worked.

his was slightly different than that.

Does that one have terminals on the back center? If so it would be a switch to use 2 separate antennas, he had one of those too