i gave this a try. i could not pound an 8ft (live in apt's) rod in the ground but was able to get about a 2ft rod in ground.
signal did not travel more than 25ft from building and did not jump to other buildings.
very strong, sounding great in and around building but not much beyond building.
used a TCU-30 and one of those greek rack mount AM's 20W (80W PEP)
Never have really seemed to have any good luck with Carrier Current, always seem to wind up in a bad area for it.
Thanks for sharing your experience with CC. If done properly then there should not be a very strong signal outside of the building since the mode of operation is to convey the signal along the indoor power wiring to the receivers.
Power distribution transformers are used in larger residences and these can block the signal from going between buildings.
My experience with this was in college dormitories where the buildings used three phase transformers with each phase serving 1/3 of the building. The signal was injected into one phase using the power ground as the return and the signal reached all the rooms we tested, probably because the three phases were routed to the individual breaker panels and there was capacitive coupling. A transmitter was needed in each building since they were on different transformers. One installation used a 25 Watt transmitter and it covered a dorm with approx. 250 residents.
Neil
Since he is using neutral injection and an isolated ground the transformers should not be an issue.
I'd suspect that the 2 foot ground rod may be the problem.
Where are you connecting to the neutral? Perhaps at the ground pin of a receptacle?
I had my CC hooked up as such but my ground rod was about 15 feet out from the building and 8 foot into the dirt.
Also, make sure there are no EMI/RFI filters between your transmitter connection to the neutral.
I was surprised when I was hearing my CC signal over a mile away. And when I left our power grid area the signal dropped quickly. Our City buys bulk electric power and has its own distribution system.
Also anyplace where I was not within about 100 feet of the power lines the signal would drop.
Keep trying...
What I didn't report earlier is that one of the transmitters was located in the basement laundry area of a ladies' dorm. Before I serviced this transmitter I had no idea that the ladies did their laundry while wearing minimal underwear and they had no idea that a geek wearing an engineering plaid shirt would be in their basement. It was kinda fun for all involved.
Part 15 radio back then sure had it's moments.
Neil
yes i was wondering about the 2ft ground rod it is also about 1ft from the building in a landscaped rock patch with earth beneath it. all the electrical here is underground and each building does have it's own transformer. we are signle phase 220 here. 2x 120v rails. if tim in bovey's experience with a procaster is any kind of indicator i would do good if i could get the procaster up on the 3rd story roof even without a ground and cover the entire complex with a strong signal. alas these are corporate owned apartments and are not allowed to think outside the box and have to go by a set of boundaries laid out by some far off board and lawyers who never set eyes on the local residents.