Comparison of Computed RF Current Flow on a Power Line With Full Scale Measurements

Reradiation of an MF/AM broadcast transmitter's signal by a power transmission line can cause serious pattern distortion. A computer model of a power line, developed and tested against scale model measurements over highly conductive ground, has been used to assess the pattern distortion to be expected from a power line proposed for construction, to identify those towers on an existing power line which carry strong RF currents, and to design "detuningn devices to suppress such currents. The accuracy of the computer model's "predictions" is tested in this paper against full-scale measured RF current flow on the skywires of a real power line. A toroidal current probe is described which is suitable in the MF band for current measurement on a large steel lattice structure such as a power line tower. Instrumentation is described for the measurement of either current magnitude only, or of both magnitude and phase. Thus the current flowing on a power line tower is readily measured by this method. Measurements of skywire current are compared with computations using a highly conductive "perfect" ground model, and using the Sommerfeld-Norton ground model for "lossy" ground of conductivity 10 millisiemens/metre and relative permittivity 15. The two ground models result in similar current distributions, with the peaks and minima in the standing wave pattern at the same positions on the skywire. The lossy ground model results in somewhat less current flow due to the damping introduced into the resonant behaviour of the power line.