Alec wrote:

Back at about the same time the BBC had (and still has) a powerful
transmitter on 200khz (now198) a local farmer who lived close to the station
built a large tuning coil in the loft and lit his house using fluorescent
tubes.

He was successfully prosecuted for stealing electricity or something
similar.

Please provide citations for this story; it retells what appears to be
an "urban legend". Here is another take on the story:

=============QUOTED MATERIAL=========================================
From: "Steve Maudsley"
Message-ID:
Newsgroups: uk.legal
Subject: Theft of electricity?
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 18:12:00 -0000
NNTP-Posting-Host: 81.103.216.21
NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 18:14:40 GMT
Organization: Virgin Net Usenet Service


"Jeff" wrote in message
...



But a transformer still involves a direct physical connection to the
mains via the primary. The primary is consuming current via its
physical connection, whatever may happen to the current after it has
entered the primary.


The power line *is the primary*!! It is just that the secondary is
separated from it by a larger distance than normal.

In any case I believe that someone was prosecuted some years ago
for doing what it being suggested.

I do recall a story about 30 years ago (possibly apocryphal) about a farmer
who lived on the UK side of the Radio Luxemburg transmitter and powered his
cattle shed from the radio waves, and was prosecuted. Radio Luxemburg had
some sort of phased array and the cows electrical use disrupted the beam.
================END OF QUOTED MATERIAL====================================

Michael