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The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New YorkState
In the 1920's a radio station in Schenectady, NY built a powerful
transmitter. In those days before FCC regulations, not knowing just how big to make a transmitter in order for the signal to be received some distance away, the station set up to broadcast at 500,000 watts. It requires about one watt to be received four blocks away. A cell phone is three watts. This station broadcast at such tremendous power that they could be heard around the world. People in New York didn't even need radios. They could sometimes hear voices in their furnaces and coming off chain-link fences. Light bulbs lit up in people's houses even if they were switched off. - from www.clip-text.com |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
"javawizard" wrote in message ... In the 1920's a radio station in Schenectady, NY built a powerful transmitter. In those days before FCC regulations, not knowing just how big to make a transmitter in order for the signal to be received some distance away, the station set up to broadcast at 500,000 watts. It requires about one watt to be received four blocks away. A cell phone is three watts. This station broadcast at such tremendous power that they could be heard around the world. People in New York didn't even need radios. They could sometimes hear voices in their furnaces and coming off chain-link fences. Light bulbs lit up in people's houses even if they were switched off. - from www.clip-text.com -------------- Can you imagine the cost of their electric bill? I used to pick up AM radio stations in my head. The theory back then was that it was due to dental work acting as a rectifier, etc. I could tell you exactly which song was playing and where they were at in the song. All one had to do was turn on a radio and I would be singing in sync with it. The really weird part was that all I could hear was the music and the time announcements. This was in the late 50's and early 60's when I lived in Carneys Point, NJ. The radio station that I heard the best was WAMS (1380kc) in Wilmington, DE. The second best was WFIL in Philadelphia, PA. The latter I heard after WAMS went off the air for the day. Ed, NM2K |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New...
There was a guy in Texas who had a wooden leg.He hollowed out a place in
his wooden leg and he mounted a little radio in there.I read about that in either Popular Mechanics or Popular Science magazine back in the late 1950s. cuhulin |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
"christopher" wrote in message peed... On Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:05:32 -0400, Ed Cregger wrote: .................................................. .................... In my wild and misspent youth when I was using 11 meters, I used a VERY large amp which would cause some neighbors to hear my voice coming from electric sockets, refrigerators, light bulbs, radios, TVs and such. I would also voice over anyone close who was recording on tape. My electric bill was rather large as I had to unplug the stove to use the 220 socket. .................................................. ............................ The other day I was operating on 40 m SSB with 1KW+ output. Antenna is an inverted V at 50 feet. My mother told me she could hear my voice coming out of somewhere on the second floor. There was nothing with a speaker in it that was turned on, not even a PC. I will have to repeat that with a ham friend present. Tam/WB2TT |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYork State
On Aug 6, 1:10*pm, "Tam" wrote:
"christopher" wrote in message peed... On Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:05:32 -0400, Ed Cregger wrote: .................................................. .................... In my wild and misspent youth when I was using 11 meters, I used a VERY large amp which would cause some neighbors to hear my voice coming from electric sockets, refrigerators, light bulbs, radios, TVs and such. I would also voice over anyone close who was recording on tape. My electric bill was rather large as I had to unplug the stove to use the 220 socket. .................................................. ..........................*... The other day I was operating on 40 m SSB with 1KW+ output. Antenna is an inverted V at 50 feet. My mother told me she could hear my voice coming out of somewhere on the second floor. There was nothing with a speaker in it that was turned on, not even a PC. I will have to repeat that with a ham friend present. Tam/WB2TT The UK back in the 1950s, post WWII. They were investigating some complaints that a licensed amateur radio transmitter was causing interference to some of the new fangled TV sets (45 megahertz, AM sound, 405 line black and white system). The fault was mainly the inabilities of the TV sets to reject strong nearby signals in another band! One elderly lady was asked if she was "Hearing anything" and replied. "Oh yes. I hear him all the time" and was asked to show the investigators her TV set. "Oh no", she said, "I don't have a TV at all but I can hear him on my electric heater whenever I switch it on or plug it in!". Turned out that the heating coil of the heater was providing inductance, there was a sufficiently high resistance (possibly where the replaceable heating coil connected at each end) to act as rectifier under the conditions present and the metal frame of the heater provided a sound box. The lady was not particularly concerned about having the heater fixed, saying "She found his talking quite interesting!". You never know do you? Nowadays sort of wondering about cell phones and those bits of metal that some people wear in their noses, faces and ears etc. |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
"Tam" wrote in message . .. The other day I was operating on 40 m SSB with 1KW+ output. Antenna is an inverted V at 50 feet. My mother told me she could hear my voice coming out of somewhere on the second floor. There was nothing with a speaker in it that was turned on, not even a PC. I will have to repeat that with a ham friend present. Tam/WB2TT I've had old solid state console stereos at the place I worked spew forth the local CB'er w/linear even when not plugged in. We figured that the output transistors were detecting the signal and feeding it to the speakers. |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
Had the same phenomenon when the illegal, high-powered, CB transmitter next
door cut in--I picked it up through the magnetic cartridge on my turntable, "Brenda Ann" wrote in message ... "Tam" wrote in message . .. The other day I was operating on 40 m SSB with 1KW+ output. Antenna is an inverted V at 50 feet. My mother told me she could hear my voice coming out of somewhere on the second floor. There was nothing with a speaker in it that was turned on, not even a PC. I will have to repeat that with a ham friend present. Tam/WB2TT I've had old solid state console stereos at the place I worked spew forth the local CB'er w/linear even when not plugged in. We figured that the output transistors were detecting the signal and feeding it to the speakers. |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
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. Alec "javawizard" wrote in message ... In the 1920's a radio station in Schenectady, NY built a powerful transmitter. In those days before FCC regulations, not knowing just how big to make a transmitter in order for the signal to be received some distance away, the station set up to broadcast at 500,000 watts. It requires about one watt to be received four blocks away. A cell phone is three watts. This station broadcast at such tremendous power that they could be heard around the world. People in New York didn't even need radios. They could sometimes hear voices in their furnaces and coming off chain-link fences. Light bulbs lit up in people's houses even if they were switched off. - from www.clip-text.com |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
"Ed Cregger" wrote in message ... I used to pick up AM radio stations in my head. The theory back then was that it was due to dental work acting as a rectifier, etc. How on earth could you sleep. You'd need to make your bedroom into a Faraday cage. |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
"HiTech RedNeck" wrote in message ... "Ed Cregger" wrote in message ... I used to pick up AM radio stations in my head. The theory back then was that it was due to dental work acting as a rectifier, etc. How on earth could you sleep. You'd need to make your bedroom into a Faraday cage. -------------- Truly, it didn't bother me at all. Of course, it could have been just a coincidence. I used to wonder if I had memorized their play sheet and then just applied that to the great sense of time that I had back then. I could come within a minute, twenty four hours a day, of giving the correct time each and every time someone asked. The AM radio sense disappeared when I went into the USAF in 1965. When I came back from the USAF some four years later, the 1380 WAMS radio station was gone as was the use of the frequency. The USAF removed quite of a few teeth during my four year sojurn. I always figured that was the reason why radio reception stopped. Ed, NM2K |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYork State
Walt Davidson wrote:
On Sat, 9 Aug 2008 14:35:25 +0100, "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. If this is true (and I have no reason to doubt it), did it make the signal weaker for everybody else? Unlikely anywhere other than in the very near vicinity, and at that range who would have noticed. -- Brian |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
"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. If this is true (and I have no reason to doubt it), did it make the signal weaker for everybody else? 73 de G3NYY In the version that I heard it was the null that the 'suck out' caused that led to an investigation that resulted in the prosecution. Now whether this is true or not is another matter. 73 Jeff |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New...
I saw them on tv last night.(Sand Hogs, that is) While the Brooklyn
Bridge was celebrating the 100 hundredth anniversary, at the same time, those Sand Hogs, hundreds of feet below ground were celebrating blasting their way with dynamite to the Croton thingy. Sand Hogs are Tough! cuhulin |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYork State
Jeff 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. If this is true (and I have no reason to doubt it), did it make the signal weaker for everybody else? 73 de G3NYY In the version that I heard it was the null that the 'suck out' caused that led to an investigation that resulted in the prosecution. Now whether this is true or not is another matter. It seems to me that a resonant structure to capture energy would re-radiate so I can't see where such a null would come from, the wavelength is long so the path difference between the main tx and the re-radiator would make such a phase shift difficult to achieve. -- Brian |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
In the version that I heard it was the null that the 'suck out' caused that led to an investigation that resulted in the prosecution. Now whether this is true or not is another matter. It seems to me that a resonant structure to capture energy would re-radiate so I can't see where such a null would come from, the wavelength is long so the path difference between the main tx and the re-radiator would make such a phase shift difficult to achieve. -- Brian Surely that would only be true if the power was not dumped into a load? The power in the load has to come from somewhere, and if it is in the load it is not in the aether. Jeff |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYork State
Jeff wrote:
In the version that I heard it was the null that the 'suck out' caused that led to an investigation that resulted in the prosecution. Now whether this is true or not is another matter. It seems to me that a resonant structure to capture energy would re-radiate so I can't see where such a null would come from, the wavelength is long so the path difference between the main tx and the re-radiator would make such a phase shift difficult to achieve. Surely that would only be true if the power was not dumped into a load? The power in the load has to come from somewhere, and if it is in the load it is not in the aether. It depends on the power captured vs the power in the load, but in any case the aperture of the loop is fairly small and cannot allow energy to be captured from outside that aperture. In comparison with the size of the transmitting antenna and the field it generates this must be insignificant I think. In fact, I wonder if he could really run a house full of fluorescent lights this way. -- Brian |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
In article ,
"Jeff" 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. If this is true (and I have no reason to doubt it), did it make the signal weaker for everybody else? 73 de G3NYY In the version that I heard it was the null that the 'suck out' caused that led to an investigation that resulted in the prosecution. Now whether this is true or not is another matter. 73 Jeff I thought the farmers equipment caused four "nulls", or local minima, in the radiation pattern. -- Regards, John Byrns Surf my web pages at, http://fmamradios.com/ |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYork State
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 |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYork State
On Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:59:56 -0500, msg wrote:
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 Didn't Tesla propose using DC current, basically broadcast/produced from thousands of transmitters. In order to use the electrical current/field, all one had to do was ground one side/wire to Earth. The other side or wire would be the receptor/antenna for lack of a better term. I'm not a technical person but I think I have the basic premise right. |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYorkState
christopher wrote: Didn't Tesla propose using DC current, basically broadcast/produced from thousands of transmitters. In order to use the electrical current/field, all one had to do was ground one side/wire to Earth. The other side or wire would be the receptor/antenna for lack of a better term. I'm not a technical person but I think I have the basic premise right. No. It wasn't DC, since DC is direct current. That was Edison who would have needed a power plant every half mile or so. Tesla was hyping "Broadcast power" which was lossy broadband RF power that would wipe out most of the usable RF spectrum. Due to the 'Inverse Square Law', it was impractical, and always will be. Tesla was responsible for AC power distribution, which ****ed Edison off. -- http://improve-usenet.org/index.html aioe.org, Goggle Groups, and Web TV users must request to be white listed, or I will not see your messages. If you have broadband, your ISP may have a NNTP news server included in your account: http://www.usenettools.net/ISP.htm There are two kinds of people on this earth: The crazy, and the insane. The first sign of insanity is denying that you're crazy. |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYork State
christopher wrote:
snip Didn't Tesla propose using DC current, basically broadcast/produced from thousands of transmitters. In order to use the electrical current/field, all one had to do was ground one side/wire to Earth. The other side or wire would be the receptor/antenna for lack of a better term. FWIW, the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer describes some of Tesla's ideas and also has a list of references to more recent wireless energy distribution schemes. Michael |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYorkState
Michael A. Terrell wrote:
Tesla was responsible for AC power distribution, which ****ed Edison off. Rumor was that Edison couldn't understand how one could measure 120 volts between any two of three terminals. -- 73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
"Walt Davidson" wrote in message ... On Sat, 9 Aug 2008 14:35:25 +0100, "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. If this is true (and I have no reason to doubt it), did it make the signal weaker for everybody else? 73 de G3NYY Only in the near field (at the site). Theoretically, there is a limit to the number of receivers for any one signal (swamping), but that number has never been approached. As for the original story, I can verify that it CAN be done, and is done inadvertantly in places where homes are found in the area of an 'antenna farm'. In Portland, for instance, the antenna farm for the high powered FM signals is in a residential shared area. Some homes within that area that use fluorescent lighting still have some light from the tubes with the switch turned off. This is not full light, but neither are they using a tuned circuit. |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYork State
Rumor was that Edison couldn't understand how one could measure 120 volts between any two of three terminals. No rumor about it. Westinghouse published several papers on electricity where he described voltage and current phase and had a true understanding of it. Edison was a hands-on experimenter who had little theoretical physics or mathematics background. That's why the two had a feud about AC vs DC. After Edison's assistant died of radiation poisoning, he was very leary of things he didn't understand and tried to convince people that AC current was just too dangerous. He also refused any more experiments concerning radiation. |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYorkState
Michael A. Terrell wrote:
christopher wrote: Didn't Tesla propose using DC current, basically broadcast/produced from thousands of transmitters. In order to use the electrical current/field, all one had to do was ground one side/wire to Earth. The other side or wire would be the receptor/antenna for lack of a better term. I'm not a technical person but I think I have the basic premise right. No. It wasn't DC, since DC is direct current. That was Edison who would have needed a power plant every half mile or so. Tesla was hyping "Broadcast power" which was lossy broadband RF power that would wipe out most of the usable RF spectrum. Due to the 'Inverse Square Law', it was impractical, and always will be. Tesla was responsible for AC power distribution, which ****ed Edison off. Tesla worked for Edison when he came up with AC power distribution. Edison favored DC for some reason and Tesla quit and went to work for Westinghouse. When the electric chair was proposed Edison did everything he could to discredit it because it used Tesla's AC power. Dave N |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter inNewY...
Nikola Tesla owned a Pierce Arrow car which he converted to run on
wireless electricity.He installed an AC motor in the car, no battery power to the AC motor.He said his car gets it's power from the ether all around us. How did he do that? www.reformation.org/nikoa-tesla.html cuhulin |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYork State
"David G. Nagel" wrote in message ... Tesla worked for Edison when he came up with AC power distribution. Edison favored DC for some reason and Tesla quit and went to work for Westinghouse. When the electric chair was proposed Edison did everything he could to discredit it because it used Tesla's AC power. "The first electric chair was made by Harold P. Brown. Brown was an employee of Thomas Edison, hired for the purpose of researching electrocution and for the development of the electric chair. Since Brown worked for Edison, and Edison promoted Brown's work, the development of the electric chair is often erroneously credited to Edison himself. Brown's design was based on use of Nikola Tesla's alternating current (AC), which was marketed by George Westinghouse and was then just emerging as the rival to Edison's less transport-efficient direct current (DC), which was further along in commercial development. The decision to use AC was partly driven by Edison's claims that AC was more lethal than DC." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_chair John H. |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter inNewY...
I have been fooling around with electricity since I was about six years
old when another kid dared me to stick my finger in a light bulb socket.ZAPP! How do you know Nikola Tesla didn't run that Pierce Arrow car on wireless electricity? I believe he did. I typed that URL correctly in my previous post.It worked for me when I first typed it and clicked on it. cuhulin |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter inNewY...
Oh, I see now.I mispelled Nikola in that URL.I blame it on my keyboard.
Hey, Dr.Strangelove movie is crakin up on the TCM channel now. cuhulin |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
I've heard variants of this story for years, but have yet to see one shred
of real evidence that it actually occurred. The closest I've seen that could be regarded as 'real' evidence was a memo that circulated around PP&L (Pennsylvania Power and Light) back in the summer of 1972 or 73 that mentioned a farmer that ALLEGEDLY got shocks off a coil of fence wire he was installing. (The power right of way went over his pasture and the indication was that he was stringing a fence under one of the then new extremely high voltage lines. 750KV if I remember, but maybe only 500KV.) Even then, I thought the right of ways were 'clear' under the big lines, which makes even this story suspect. Mike "Walt Davidson" wrote in message ... On Sat, 9 Aug 2008 14:35:25 +0100, "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. If this is true (and I have no reason to doubt it), did it make the signal weaker for everybody else? 73 de G3NYY -- Walt Davidson Email: g3nyy @despammed.com |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
the electric field under ehv lines can be high enough to give shocks,
especially if it were a long piece of wire insulated from the ground running along or across the right of way. There can also be other factors, magnetic induction is possible if the wire is long enough and he was closing a loop of it, like the top wire of an electric fence would be. There can also be ground currents due to imbalance in the 3 phases between substations, the currents induced on the static wire that is attached to the towers, leaky insulator strings, leaky lightning arresters, etc. the fields at ground level are supposed to be calculated into the design by the utility to be below the specified safe levels, but changes in ground moisture, air humidity, temperature, sag in the line caused by resistive or solar heating, can cause unexpected shocking experiences on the ground. where i used to work we would demonstrate that for utility engineers by setting up a worst case test line, having them measure the fields, and then do things like hold up a metal ribbed umbrella or touch a key to a car door lock. note though that these are 60hz currents, the human body is relatively sensitive to that frequency and it is easily detected by most people. lf or mf radio frequencies are less likely to be directly felt unless they get high enough of a voltage/current to burn. "Mike Y" wrote in message ... I've heard variants of this story for years, but have yet to see one shred of real evidence that it actually occurred. The closest I've seen that could be regarded as 'real' evidence was a memo that circulated around PP&L (Pennsylvania Power and Light) back in the summer of 1972 or 73 that mentioned a farmer that ALLEGEDLY got shocks off a coil of fence wire he was installing. (The power right of way went over his pasture and the indication was that he was stringing a fence under one of the then new extremely high voltage lines. 750KV if I remember, but maybe only 500KV.) Even then, I thought the right of ways were 'clear' under the big lines, which makes even this story suspect. Mike "Walt Davidson" wrote in message ... On Sat, 9 Aug 2008 14:35:25 +0100, "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. If this is true (and I have no reason to doubt it), did it make the signal weaker for everybody else? 73 de G3NYY -- Walt Davidson Email: g3nyy @despammed.com |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYork State
Mike Y wrote:
I've heard variants of this story for years, but have yet to see one shred of real evidence that it actually occurred. The closest I've seen that could be regarded as 'real' evidence was a memo that circulated around PP&L (Pennsylvania Power and Light) back in the summer of 1972 or 73 that mentioned a farmer that ALLEGEDLY got shocks off a coil of fence wire he was installing. (The power right of way went over his pasture and the indication was that he was stringing a fence under one of the then new extremely high voltage lines. 750KV if I remember, but maybe only 500KV.) Yes, this can easily happen. A few years ago, I was doing some consulting work for a major power company at one of their very high voltage substations. EVERYTHING was hot, from the fence surrounding the property to the doorknobs on the buildings to the employee cars parked on the property. Even though this site was usually unattended, to a man, all the power company employees disliked pulling maintenance duty there. Even then, I thought the right of ways were 'clear' under the big lines, which makes even this story suspect. What do you mean by "clear"? Yes, they clear the brush under their right of way (which can pass over private property) , but I don't think anyone has repealed the laws of induction and electrostatic fields. So, your story above doesn't surprise me in the least. P.S. When I worked for CBS TV, they also owned a 50 kW AM station connected to (at the time) a 12(!) tower directional array. At homes in the main lobe of the pattern, I can relate many stories of shocks off of aluminum siding, TV rabbit ear antennas, lights staying on, detected audio being rectified and coming through the forced air heating ducts, etc, etc. However, I never heard of anyone stealing power as related by the OP. |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New...
If you coil up enough copper wire big enough, you can get static shocks
off of it. cuhulin |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYork State
Mike- Tho this NOT about R.F., it is about induction- Many years ago,
we had a working telephone line, from K.Falls, Or to Tule Lake, Ca. About 1/4 mile away a power line (1/2 Megavolt) was installed, running next to our line for some 5 miles ! When power company fired it up, instantly the line was unusable-- Measured over 400 VOLTS of escape in telegraph office- worse- at a detector, a maintainer (these were Fiberglass houses) grabbed on to the door handle, and was knocked to the ground ! Power company supplied us with 60 cycle filters, but the line still had too much noise to be usable! And, another incident- in Portland, had a Phone line to Eugene, passed KXL (1190KHz?) radio station- Had enough leakage, that it got into the baseband of our microwave system! we wern't using baseband that high, but when FCC inspected our El Paso, Texas facility, cited us for re-transmitting that signal, on our microwave system! Take it to the bank-- dumb things happen! Jim NN7K Mike Y wrote: I've heard variants of this story for years, but have yet to see one shred of real evidence that it actually occurred. The closest I've seen that could be regarded as 'real' evidence was a memo that circulated around PP&L (Pennsylvania Power and Light) back in the summer of 1972 or 73 that mentioned a farmer that ALLEGEDLY got shocks off a coil of fence wire he was installing. (The power right of way went over his pasture and the indication was that he was stringing a fence under one of the then new extremely high voltage lines. 750KV if I remember, but maybe only 500KV.) Even then, I thought the right of ways were 'clear' under the big lines, which makes even this story suspect. Mike |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
"Jim-NN7K" . wrote in message ... And, another incident- in Portland, had a Phone line to Eugene, passed KXL (1190KHz?) radio station- Had enough leakage, that it got into the baseband of our microwave system! we wern't using baseband that high, but when FCC inspected our El Paso, Texas facility, cited us for re-transmitting that signal, on our microwave system! Take it to the bank-- dumb things happen! Jim NN7K KXL (5000 watts) is at 750 KHz. KEX (50,000 watts) is at 1190 KHz. If your system was anywhere near I-205 at Clackamas, then it would not surprise me that KEX would get into it. Once I was driving by their tower site and decided to be funny. It was in my 1969 Pontiac wagon. I commented to my passengers that "I bet I can really get a good signal from KEX right now.." and punched the button for KEX on my car radio.. which greeted me with total silence! I just happened to punch that button while in the strongest part of their pattern, and it took out the RF amp and local oscillator in the radio (damn, that was a good radio, too...) |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYork State
Brenda Ann wrote:
"Jim-NN7K" . wrote in message ... And, another incident- in Portland, had a Phone line to Eugene, passed KXL (1190KHz?) radio station- Had enough leakage, that it got into the baseband of our microwave system! we wern't using baseband that high, but when FCC inspected our El Paso, Texas facility, cited us for re-transmitting that signal, on our microwave system! Take it to the bank-- dumb things happen! Jim NN7K KXL (5000 watts) is at 750 KHz. KEX (50,000 watts) is at 1190 KHz. If your system was anywhere near I-205 at Clackamas, then it would not surprise me that KEX would get into it. Once I was driving by their tower site and decided to be funny. It was in my 1969 Pontiac wagon. I commented to my passengers that "I bet I can really get a good signal from KEX right now.." and punched the button for KEX on my car radio.. which greeted me with total silence! I just happened to punch that button while in the strongest part of their pattern, and it took out the RF amp and local oscillator in the radio (damn, that was a good radio, too...) Desense doesn't do anything to the local oscillator. It is merely a nearby (still in the same bandpass as the AVC detector) undesired signal strong enough to make your AVC turn the gain way down. |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in NewYork State
Brenda Ann wrote:
"Jim-NN7K" . wrote in message ... And, another incident- in Portland, had a Phone line to Eugene, passed KXL (1190KHz?) radio station- Had enough leakage, that it got into the baseband of our microwave system! we wern't using baseband that high, but when FCC inspected our El Paso, Texas facility, cited us for re-transmitting that signal, on our microwave system! Take it to the bank-- dumb things happen! Jim NN7K KXL (5000 watts) is at 750 KHz. KEX (50,000 watts) is at 1190 KHz. If your system was anywhere near I-205 at Clackamas, then it would not surprise me that KEX would get into it. Once I was driving by their tower site and decided to be funny. It was in my 1969 Pontiac wagon. I commented to my passengers that "I bet I can really get a good signal from KEX right now.." and punched the button for KEX on my car radio.. which greeted me with total silence! I just happened to punch that button while in the strongest part of their pattern, and it took out the RF amp and local oscillator in the radio (damn, that was a good radio, too...) Correct-- this from memory of around 35 years ago (Comm Tech for Southern Pacific (Now Union Pacific)-- Main Line ran real close to their towers! Signal came from a microwave carrier, installed as should be ( Balances wires, shield on one end grounded- had to ground BOTH ends, to get rid of signal! Also had to string Grounds from the clock tower at Union Station, a pretty good trick, as high as it is! Jim |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
"Dave" wrote in message ... Brenda Ann wrote: "Jim-NN7K" . wrote in message ... And, another incident- in Portland, had a Phone line to Eugene, passed KXL (1190KHz?) radio station- Had enough leakage, that it got into the baseband of our microwave system! we wern't using baseband that high, but when FCC inspected our El Paso, Texas facility, cited us for re-transmitting that signal, on our microwave system! Take it to the bank-- dumb things happen! Jim NN7K KXL (5000 watts) is at 750 KHz. KEX (50,000 watts) is at 1190 KHz. If your system was anywhere near I-205 at Clackamas, then it would not surprise me that KEX would get into it. Once I was driving by their tower site and decided to be funny. It was in my 1969 Pontiac wagon. I commented to my passengers that "I bet I can really get a good signal from KEX right now.." and punched the button for KEX on my car radio.. which greeted me with total silence! I just happened to punch that button while in the strongest part of their pattern, and it took out the RF amp and local oscillator in the radio (damn, that was a good radio, too...) Desense doesn't do anything to the local oscillator. It is merely a nearby (still in the same bandpass as the AVC detector) undesired signal strong enough to make your AVC turn the gain way down. It wasn't desense. I benched the radio, and the RF amp was shorted (B-E, B-C and C-E), while the LO lost only the B-E junction. This happened instantly when I punched the button for KEX on the radio. It wasn't KEX desensing the radio while listening to the other station (KGW 620 at the time). Desense occurs around those towers for about half a mile or so, especially if you're inline with the beam. |
The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State
"Brenda Ann" wrote in message ... "Jim-NN7K" . wrote in message ... And, another incident- in Portland, had a Phone line to Eugene, passed KXL (1190KHz?) radio station- Had enough leakage, that it got into the baseband of our microwave system! we wern't using baseband that high, but when FCC inspected our El Paso, Texas facility, cited us for re-transmitting that signal, on our microwave system! Take it to the bank-- dumb things happen! Jim NN7K KXL (5000 watts) is at 750 KHz. KXL has been 50 kw days at least back to 1972... that is as far as I wanted to check it in the Jones Log and Broadcasting Yearbook. http://www.davidgleason.com/Archive-...0Tennessee.pdf |
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