OT for a sec: US wiring sources of info

Jules Richardson wrote: Determine if there is a potential between the aerial lead and the TV or cable box. A story, perhaps helpful, perhaps not: A couple of years ago, the lights in my house dimmed and brightened noticably when the refrigerator would turn on or I would toast bread or iron a shirt. I came to the conclusion that the neutral lead into my house had excessive resistance. It was only a volt or two change when I measured it, so I didn't think it was a problem. Later, I was changing some cable TV wires and noticed that one was actually warm to the touch. I went out to the telephone pole where the wire came out the soil from my house and it was HOT. I fiddled with the wire a bit and it melted and came apart, throwing sparks as it did. The neutral conductor in the underground cable into my house failed at a buried junction. For some time, my house neutral currents were carried by the cable company's coax shield. It is interesting that none of the other "ground" connections carried much current back to the transformer on the pole. There were 5 paths to the pole: the neutral that failed, a groundrod, the water main, the gas main, and the cable wire, and all the current seems to have gone through the cable wire. -chuck