My very first short wave experience ever was listening to HCJB on a 6
transistor BCB radio when I was 10 years old...I tweaked the tuning cap to
get the thing as far as possible out of the broadcast band range and the
overload from the rural above-ground telephone lines did the rest. Got me
started thinking that there just might be radios in other countries, hi hi.


"Buck" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:31:36 -0000, (Dave Platt)
wrote:

In article ,
Buck wrote:

There used to be radio antennas that plugged into the wall outlets.
They had a three pronged connector, but only one side was actually
electrically connected, the other prongs were plastic. I am not sure
what they did to isolate the electrical from the radio, but the
antenna used the house wiring for an antenna extension.

This may be what he is looking for, something that coupled with the
electrical wires for a longer antenna.

Ugh. Those things. "Turn your entire house into a gigantic
television antenna!"

These devices usually just couple one of the wires in the outlet to
the antenna lead, using a small high-voltage capacitor. Component
parts cost was a few cents, plus the cost of the plug, and (usually)
some intricately-shaped plastic case meant to make the device look
sophisticated. The case probably cost more than the guts, and the
advertised price was far greater than either.

From all I've heard, they generally gave poor performance for at least
two reasons:

- A house's power wiring is an excellent vehicle for RF noise and
hash... harmonics from power-supply rectifier, broadband impulse
noise from any AC motor with brushes, and so forth. Result: lots
of static in the picture.

- Multipath. The house wiring is of a complex shape, much larger
than a typical TV antenna. The TV or radio signal is likely to be
picked up by several different portions of the wiring, which will
mix (with varying amounts of time delay) at the coupler. Result:
a ghosty picture.

To paraphrase a Monty Python sketch concerning a particular Australian
table wine: "This is not a technology for using. This is a
technology for laying down and avoiding."


That sounds like what I was describing. I had an experience once
where there was a drop cord hanging in a loop shape from a power line
that lit up a boat pier about 100 feet long or so. When I put my
shortwave radio near it, I had tremendous reception on MW or SW. I
didn't need to even use the antenna on the radio. I figure there was
about 300 total feet of wire the way it was run. Had a great night
fishing and listening to SWB.

Buck
--
73 for now
Buck
N4PGW