"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...


One of the classics -- which I haven't seen for at least a decade,
probably
because of the rise of cable TV -- was the little box that "Turn[ed] your
house wiring into a giant antenna!" It was an AC plug with a small
capacitor.


that little box with the capacitor actually worked. And there was an
article in popular electronics (I think) in the 60s saying how to make one -
it wasn't as good as a real long wire antenna, but it was far better than
nothing or a short wire antenna. Of course the magic box was over priced,
but at least there was some validity in the principle