Frank, > Ground it??? I didn't know you were supposed to ground it! 8-( > [Curls up in embarrassment] > > You can see why I failed Applied Electricity in my first term at > UCL .
OK. You are indeed a specialist engineer. Essentially you just made a better antenna for it by enlarging the near field (at least for some frequencies). But there is an unexplained phenomenon related to this. There is a human antenna effect, especially for ELF. You may have noticed the effect in the early days of TV when adjusting the antenna for better reception, only to see the "ghosts" return when you let go of the dipole or 'rabbit ears'. If any of your kids were watching they were probably imploring you to stay there and hold-on while they finished watching the show. The human body has variable conductivity and has a "near field" which can even be more conductive when needed, often in a controlled way (google "hyperpolariztion"). Some people have claimed to be able to tune into to specific RF frequencies (but that could be more a function of their particular "dentistry" than any variable near-field ;-) Jones
