Re: cell phones and power lines

In article <k46ur391cmt8bn5f3ac446nrqrn1sl8q2l@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
fair****tfan@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (mike weber) wrote:

> Voltage, actually; but, as is pointed out in another esponse, the
> field 'round a high-voltage line is strong enough you might be able
to
> pick up power by conduction.
> 

I think you mean induction.

> There was the story (likel;y a[pocryphal) of a farmer who, having
> gotten a bit of a shock off a wire fence running under such a line,
> experimented and discovered that by running several loops of wire
> under the line he could get useable power off it.

The problem I remember with farmers and overhead lines is that they use
to burn off the stubble in their fields every year.  (This practice
seems to have died out now.)  And flame contains ionised air, which is
a good conductor to earth.

I think it was in June 1982 that such a stubble fire caused a line is
south east England to trip out.  In England at that time, most of the
generation was in the north (where the coal fields were) and most of
the demand was in the south.  That line was one of three carrying power
from the north to the south.  Grid control normally perform system
security checks so that losing one line shouldn't be catastrophic.
However, something went wrong with one of the other lines as well, and
that tripped out too.  The final line overloaded and went out,
separating most of the demand in the country from most of the power.
There were a lot of power cuts in London that morning.