[sdiy] bio electricity

[Toby]

on 11/5/01 1:34 AM,  at krooshof at xs4all.nl wrote:

>> Do you remember the FM audio distribution allong the
>> home mains power lines?
>> 
>> m.c.
> 
> Yes, I do. That is: Im too young to remamber, but I have the equipment.
> Here's a last weeks email pingpong from Harry and me.
> Maybe you can shine another a light on the safety issues...
> 
> _________________________________________
> --- Dave Krooshof <krooshof at xs4all.nl> wrote:
>> A tube question, Harry,
>> 
>> I happen to have a 3 tube amp from the Radio Distribution.
>> That was a thing from the fifties, when the Dutch Phone
>> company used the telephone lines as a radio transmitter.
>> In the house was a box mounted on the wall. It had a switch
>> to choose between 5 chanels. Then it had a switchable trafo
>> for volume. The amp is totally weird. It hasn't got a trafo, nor
>> for the power supply, nor for the speaker. No readable info
>> anywhere on the print, parts, or box.
>> The odd thing is... I connected a jackcable to its input.
>> When I touch it, it doesn't hum, it beeps. Even louder when I lick
>> the plug. And it's tunable with a crybaby (not with other wah's).
>> Then I make beating patterns with a flanger and a chorus.
>> 
>> What is your guess, what happens in the amp?
>> AM?
> 
> My Guess... it may be a transmitter, probably AM if its from the
> 50's... FM was just getting started and not common yet.
> 
> Probably rectifies the line directly for HV, and runs the filiments
> in series (maybe 3 tubes @ 12V each... 36V... then some resistor
> in series so it don't blow.
> Is there an incandescent lamp anywhere... pilot light
> maybe... that could be part of the dropping circuit.
> 
>> And can there be any danger that one day 240 volts
>> will hit me when a tube decides to break down?
> Yes...  I would not lick the plug too often....
> 
> Y'know it might use a series capacitor to drop the voltage to
> the filaments...
> anyway... its dangerous. I only lick 9V batteries, tops... and I'd
> transformer isolate AND ground lift if I was gonna do it on stage...
> 
> <video cue... cartoon electric shock... where the body flashes yellow
> and black, and you can see the bones inside... >
> 
> H^) harry
> 
> 
>> 
>> 
>> Dave
> 
> 
Also, I read in Wired that this guy figured out how to use the magnetic
field surrounding individual power lines to transmit data--at a very high
rate.  We've got a pre-built terabit internet.  It seems that nobody wants
to invest in his project except the Germans.

toby