🚀 go-pugleaf

Lou Schneider wrote:

> Before houses were built in what is now Foster City, the area was home to
> several large chicken farms (Foster Farms?).  

I don't think so.  I know Mr. Foster personally, I don't think the city was
named after him nor his company after the city. I may be wrong, but at least
I've never heard of it.  If need be, I'll call George Foster and ask.

> Several large barns were
> located to the north of KNBR's tower, and coincidentally the station had
> a noticeable hole in it's non-directional pattern towards San Francisco.
> 
> Someone noticed the hole lined up with the barns, and they were
> illuminated whenever the radio station was on the air.  When the station
> engineers investigated, they discovered the light switches in the barn
> were turned off, but the lights still burned from the energy the barn's
> wiring was absorbing from the radio station.  The wiring in the barn was
> approximating a tuned loop at 680 KHz.  When the farmer was asked about
> it, he said the switch had been off for years.

In that case, when I parked my van less than 50 feet from KPLA's transmitter
near Valley Home, as I did for five years, the 12 volt lights should have 
burned and my battery should have charged itself up.  Didn't happen.  KPLA 
had an effective radiated power of 250,000 watts using a 50,000 watt 
transmitter. Ask Geoff Metcalf, he worked there too.
 
> This story was told to me by the late Walt Palmer, who worked for KNBR at
> that time.  It might be urban legend, but at least it's close to the source.
> 

Well, I certainly won't argue with it then.  I know it is possible to light
low wattage lights from the EMF of a poweerful transmitter, but I have my 
doubts about the 100 watt bulbs used in homes or the 300 watt bulbs used in
the poultry industry.  Tell you what, I'll be near WHAM's 50,000 watt 
transmitter later this week and I'll run some experiments.

Why is it necessary to run electrical lines up a 400 foot tower to power the
tower lights, couldn't they just run off the EMF?


-- 
BossJock
Now heard over more home radios than any other household appliance!

On Sun, 09 Jun 1996 13:46:47 -0400, Troy Wollensak <bossjock@frontiernet.net>
wrote:
>In that case, when I parked my van less than 50 feet from KPLA's transmitter
>near Valley Home, as I did for five years, the 12 volt lights should have 
>burned and my battery should have charged itself up.  Didn't happen.

Not surprising since it was encased in a metal shield, your antenna was small,
and probably wasn't tuned properly.


>I have my 
>doubts about the 100 watt bulbs used in homes or the 300 watt bulbs used in
>the poultry industry.  Tell you what, I'll be near WHAM's 50,000 watt 
>transmitter later this week and I'll run some experiments.

I help install a security system at one of those u-rent places, which system
consisted of a grid of wires, with each intersection being a room.  The
computer would scan rows and columns to read the switch on each door.  The
wires were as long as 200'.  When we hooked up the wires to our drivers (power
transistors), ever transistor blew.  A new batch did the same thing.  It
finally occurred to somebody to check the lines, and they found they were
getting ~300VAC on the grid.  There was a radio station about half a mile
away.  We ended up using high-voltage drivers.

-- 
#include <standard_disclaimer.h>                 http://emoryi.jpl.nasa.gov/
 _
Kevin D Quitt  USA 91351-4454           96.37% of all statistics are made up
Per the FCA, this email address may not be added to any commercial mail list

On Sun, 09 Jun 1996 13:46:47 -0400, Troy Wollensak <bossjock@frontiernet.net>
wrote:
>Why is it necessary to run electrical lines up a 400 foot tower to power the
>tower lights, couldn't they just run off the EMF?

It's not necessary, it's just a lot more efficient.

-- 
#include <standard_disclaimer.h>                 http://emoryi.jpl.nasa.gov/
 _
Kevin D Quitt  USA 91351-4454           96.37% of all statistics are made up
Per the FCA, this email address may not be added to any commercial mail list

Kevin D. Quitt wrote:
> 
> On Sun, 09 Jun 1996 13:46:47 -0400, Troy Wollensak <bossjock@frontiernet.net>
> wrote:
> >Why is it necessary to run electrical lines up a 400 foot tower to power the
> >tower lights, couldn't they just run off the EMF?
> 
> It's not necessary, it's just a lot more efficient.
> 

Safer, too.  That way you don't loose the safety lights when the 
transmitter is down.  It's easier to supply emergency power using regular 
current, also.

Dan Bollinger
Industrial Designer