Greetings good people,
In I think 1983 this UK magazine published an article containing two stories, only one of which was factual and I’ve never been able to work out which.
The first concerned the German army’s Radio communication system in the Second World War. This used very low frequencies for increased coverage and the local population quickly discovered that slinging an aeriel up could deliver enough current to power light bulbs. However this caused gaps nad holes in the signals transmission coverage and then military police investigating and prosecuting the ‘freeloaders’.
The second story concerned the electrification of South Africas railway system, i’m assuming the first half of last century. The Engineer chosen to design the system, an Italian according to the story, was forever being mucked around by the railways managers and took his revenge. After settling on a 50hz AC system for the Generators and rolling stock he then designed the whole network as a half/quarter wave aeriel which made for a very good transmiiter but useless in providing power to the trains.
It was many years ago but I think I’ve remembered the essentials of the stories.
incidently it was this issue of the magazine that carried the job advert that got me into the BBC!
Peter