[time-nuts] 60 Hz measurement party

[Morris Odell]

> >mean a second wire ?  Surely you do not mean they are using the earth
> (dirt) as a
> >return path ?  That would be terribly inefficient !  

Down here in Australia, Single Wire Earth Return (SWER) is common for long
rural lines. They run at 12.7 kv (one phase of a 22 kv 3 phase line). At the
consumer end there is a pole mounted transformer and a fenced off earth
stake. It seems to work reasonably well even in dry conditions but you
occasionally hear stories of a large quadruped coming to nasty end if they
get inside the enclosure. Obviously there would be a radial potential field
in the ground and on the surface and quite a voltage can develop across
their legs.

Morris