begin quoting Andrew Lentvorski as of Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 04:15:01PM -0700: > SJS wrote: [snip] > >The problem is that to make the "theft" charge stick, you're deprived of > >the ability to use fluorescent lighting in your garage. I live farther > >away from the transmission lines, so I can do exactly the same thing, > >and the law wouldn't begin to care. > > Um, you do realize that this requires you to be *really* close to > *really* high voltage lines.
I thought it was a couple of hundred feet, max, and the fact that people could walk around and demonstrate the leakage is one of the reasons why the transmission trunks have just a wide easements. > The power company doesn't just leak power if they can help it. The > lines are configured such that the radiated power drops off at least as > as r^2 (and actually, I think it's more like r^4). I think you're correct. > Most powerlines have a right-of-way that is covered by a lease or a > purchase. Almost no power is leaked beyond that right-of-way. ...for just this reason, yes. It's really hard to convict someone of "stealing" power in their own garage. Now, someone who builds a nice little induction loop to siphon off power before the meter... yah, I have no problems calling 'em a thief. [chop] > >So those people who protest the uber-high-powered transmission lines by > >waving around fluorescent tubes could be arrested for theft. > > > >There's something that stinks about that. > > And they could likely be arrested for trespass. > > My opinion about the high-powered transmission line protesters is > another post for another day. Heh. I'll look forward to it. -- This conversation has been unexpectedly useful. Stewart Stremler -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
