[Lowfer] Free Energy/QST October 1999

[John Andrews]

Ken,

> Mitchell Lee lived one mile from KKSJ and recovered energy
> from the AM broadcast signal.
> The article is not April Fool's but October 1999 pages 66 and 67
> and I have the QST  article in front of me.  The circuit details are
> simple--  a tuning circuit for KKSJ,  a diode, two transistors and
> this output is across a large capacitor.  The battery receives a charge
> of 200 milliamps or about 2.5 W of delivered power, 24 hours per day.

But do realize that the diode is switching on and off at the carrier
frequency of the radio station. My initial message was simply that I
wondered that since that switching action would produce harmonics, whether
they could be re-radiated. The tuning circuit would tend to reduce that, in
any case. The device would certainly need to be evaluated for compliance
with FCC Part 15. Perhaps that's why you've never seen a commercial version
of it.

And in reading QST for 40 years, I have found an occasional instance where a
reader-submitted concept did not pass muster. They fairly frequently publish
corrections to their "Hints & Kinks" submissions. Of course, the Larson E.
Rapp stories are another matter! <g>

John Andrews