That certainly is NOT BS in my experience.
If you are getting either analog or digital on rabbit ears, you are NOT 50-60 miles out (or more) like I am. I can get analog just fine, with a much bigger antenna. Not so with digital.
I do get digtal now, but I had to get a much bigger antenna *and* put amplifiers on it. And if the weather goes bonkers (fog or whatever), it might blip out, and you get nothing. But that doesn't happen too often. HD looks very good otherwise
Except that in most states, a homeowner is not legally allowed to touch the meter in any way.
Plus, if there is something wrong with the meter / base there is danger of personal injury. You could be badly burned or killed.
Let the power company do its job. They know what to look for and what safety precautions to take.
Nah, not at all likely to make them dead, your typical home generator just doesn't put out enough juice to kill most of the time. It's almost like people on slashdot didn't play with electricity as a kid =) The worst shock I've ever received was from a 10KV fly back transformer in an old Sun SLC workstation (it was the part for powering the CRT). That jolt blew a hole in the screwdriver I was using and threw me a couple feet and knocked me out.
Pure nonsense. That flyback is 10kv at a very low amperage. The voltage/amperage sent back over the powerlines from a home generator is plenty to kill someone. It could also kill you at th 120/240 volt level if you get into that.
Furthermore, what happens out on the utility lines, grounded or at 12kv, might very well toast your generator and maybe put something on file.
Many a safety minded lineman has had a good chuckle about the *deserving* generator user that foolishly endangered lives with a backfeed.
DO NOT hook up directly. Please use a transfer switch or just hook up extension cords to your appliances.
Stay out of court.
PS. The power company I work for did not tell me what to say....
"Conversion, fastidious Goddess, loves blood better than brick, and feasts most subtly on the human will." -- Virginia Woolf, "Mrs. Dalloway"