Bedroom Wall That Received Radio Signal

[EJ Jurich]

Here is a fun one. I was Chief Engineer at WROK in Rockford, Illinois. The studio and transmitters were at the same site in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Apparently, the city grew around what was once just a transmitter site. I took a call from a woman that lived in a house on the edge of the radio station property line. She tells me that for years the AM radio station would come out of their bedroom wall during the day, but not at night. Since it never bothered their sleep, she never said anything about it. However, they were getting ready to sell the house and wondered if I could do something about it. I'm thinking it just during the day because the AM is 5KW day, but 500 watts night. I stick a screwdriver in my back pocket and walk across the field to the house. It was really weird. Indeed, you could hear the AM coming out the wall and the quality was not that bad. I walked up to the wall, looked down and saw an electrical outlet. I asked if we could go to the basement under the location of the outlet. I could see a conduit going up the wall with a conduit coupling. I told her that if we are lucky, it will be here and not in the wall. I tightened the screws of the coupling. That was it, no more radio coming out of the wall. She said "you mean we put up with that all these years and all we had to do was tighten those screws?" I explained the metal conduit acted like an antenna. The loose screw was corroded and became a diode. The outlet attached to the wall made the wall a speaker.

 

[ZipZapOuch]

Here is a fun one. I was Chief Engineer at WROK in Rockford, Illinois. The studio and transmitters were at the same site in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Apparently, the city grew around what was once just a transmitter site. I took a call from a woman that lived in a house on the edge of the radio station property line. She tells me that for years the AM radio station would come out of their bedroom wall during the day, but not at night. Since it never bothered their sleep, she never said anything about it. However, they were getting ready to sell the house and wondered if I could do something about it. I'm thinking it just during the day because the AM is 5KW day, but 500 watts night. I stick a screwdriver in my back pocket and walk across the field to the house. It was really weird. Indeed, you could hear the AM coming out the wall and the quality was not that bad. I walked up to the wall, looked down and saw an electrical outlet. I asked if we could go to the basement under the location of the outlet. I could see a conduit going up the wall with a conduit coupling. I told her that if we are lucky, it will be here and not in the wall. I tightened the screws of the coupling. That was it, no more radio coming out of the wall. She said "you mean we put up with that all these years and all we had to do was tighten those screws?" I explained the metal conduit acted like an antenna. The loose screw was corroded and became a diode. The outlet attached to the wall made the wall a speaker.

I wonder if this could be reproduced anywhere in a house or as a stand-alone demonstrator near an AM transmitter. It would make a fantastic science fair project and, if it could be controlled by a small RF switch from a neighboring house, it could scare the crap out of someone.

 

[Tony Stewart]

I have this pulsed EMF machine for physical therapy of any pains that works well. I think it just vibrates the plasma faster for natural healing. It is pretty powerful on flat zones more than the knees. I think the claims are exaggerated but it is at least 1 kW, 1T water cooled. I like the way the pulses change rep rate in each cycle which starts like a little jack hammer on max level then cycles off in 7 seconds for 8 seconds of RF heat then changes rep rate and repeats for 15 minutes each session.
The Tesla Stym version from Slovenia is similar but 20x the cost at $25k 1500VA 2 MHz common in all physio shops in the EU and Singapore and also is water cooled. I suspect the Chinese copied their design but I could not import the Stym as it was not FDA approved and the Chinese unit flew under the radar.

It worked OK on my wife's 2 knee replacements and avoided surgery on my Dog's knee. I just use it after a strenuous pickleball game. Although some experts tell me microcurrent conduction stimulus is also effective but not for me.

7 Tesla DC in a MRI is enough to suck in metal folding chairs at traffic speed limits which this certainly does not do.

I wonder if I can locate any loose screws in the house with it.

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

Not quite the same thing, but reminded me of an incident in the UK when TV stations first came on the air.
One lady viewer complained of receiving her TV programs a week late !
Evidently both her and her neighbor were watching the same soap opera, her neighbor was receiving episodes a week earlier ahead of her ?
The local TV Co. sent out a tech to try and placate her and solve the situation, he found she actually did receive the episodes later.
Stumped at first, he went outside and looked up at the roof TV aerial.
Turns out the location was right on the fringe of London and midlands TV reception.
So Antenna installers would often pick a different transmission source on homes in the area as both signals were around the same strength, !
And yes, one neighbor watched TV London, the other the midlands and the former often transmitted PGS a week earlier than the other. !!

 

[Tony Stewart]

When I was in grade 2 my father was head of the RCMP (Staff Sgt) in a small town, called Flin Flon. We lived above the Post Office where his office was located and I used to occasionally listen to XJG22 on the B&W TV perhaps some harmonic on UHF . They had no broadcast TV in the early '60's. We only lived there for a year and a half. I once got Texas TV on a hot summer day. I think this was my first clue that I was to become an EE. I remember getting my 1st tooth filling there without freezing and the Dentist had some new technology that used headphones with loud music to distract the pain and avoid drugs for little ones. He also told me some adults with amalgam fillings could hear AM radio on occasions. I later learned the jaw is an excellent sound transducer to the ears and the mercury crystal can act as a diode.