"Szczepan Bialek" wrote in message
...
Just as a mental exercise, assume that the entire setup...van and
antenna,
is transported to a place in space where there is negligible capacitance
to the earth.

Is it your contention that the setup would operate any differently?

The Earth is in the space and the entire setup also.
The both need "neutralization" like the space-vehicle:
"Other proposed applications of large-area field emission sources[39]
include microwave generation, space-vehicle neutralization"
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_electron_emission

" Where the electrons are compacted the electrons tend to push each other
off. Where there
is a deficit of electrons, electrons are attracted from other sources".

In space is the Solar wind (ions and electrons).
S*

To continue quoting from the Wiki article: ' In these devices, a high
density of individual field emission sites is created on a substrate
(originally silicon). This research area became known, first as "vacuum
microelectronics", now as "vacuum nanoelectronics" '.
Micro/nanoelectronics? I think we've discussed ths before on this newsgroup.
Is Szczepan saying that we need to earth the Earth? Doesn't that short out
everything?
I'd rate this thread "Four stars out of five. Highly entertaining and
amusing. I await the sequel".
Perhaps we've already had the sequel - was it Archimedes who said "Give me a
place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world". I guess that
Szczepan would agree with that one.

Regards to all, Ian.