[sdiy] generators/antennas analogy?

[sasami at blaze.net.au]

"Free power" has also been siphoned off HT lines using 
coils wired across fluorescent lights. Mind you, with the 
free power, you also get a massive abount of free induced 
hum/rfi in your equipment (ever tried to use a computer near 
power lines??) and free cancer!!



>Is this an 'urban legend' ???
>
>There are some people who have gotten "free' power by 
receiving RF
>stations from VERY close up... now that might make a little 
dent but I
>doubt that anyone could judge "listenership" from plate 
current etc...
>
>H^) harry
>
>Lincoln Fong wrote:
>
>> Whilst I am familiar with the idea of 'back emf' in a 
generator there is
>> something I have never understood which Im sure someone 
can clear up.
>>
>> I once heard that Radio and TV stations can judge 
audience figures by the
>> amount of power 'absorbed' ie the Watts or MWatts they 
have to pump out. On
>> one level this makes sense. A popular station would need 
only the weakest of
>> transmitters if this were not so. But can the resonance 
of millions of tuned
>> circuits really indicate power usage that accurately? And 
if not then how do
>> they judge audience figures? I don't really buy the 
argument that grid power
>> usage can accurately reflect these things when so many 
programmes start at
>> exactly the same time.
>>
>> Lincoln