Hello again automationman, first of all my apologies for stating the 'isolated 'earthing rod , should have know better, also , the RCD yes I do appreciate that this has no bearing on my particular 'problem'..and does not come into the picture. Incidentally there is one of those miniature fenced off 'substations' approximately 30 metres from my house !! ???
You asked. if connecting the 'live ' earth wire to the radio chassis made any difference. well, in a word, regarding mains borne noise ,, NO... What did happen , as I half expectrd, was a variation in the aerial current reading. ,standing wave ratio (SWR) which a small tuning adjustment ,corrected .
As for Bernard's suggestion re the lamp shunt , yes ; the voltage read zero..
All in all, gents , perhaps I have 'made a mountain out of a molehill' for which I apologise.. As I mentioned earlier,.. Paul C, AC/DC and of course live chassis were more or less the norm, before that of course, were the old (wonder if you remember them??) battery radio (wireless) sets Cossor, Lissen Burndept,Ecko; powered by the old so-called 'Accumulators' and 'eliminators' , ?? etc etc ---( nostalgia is taking me away from the subject....) Age does that I suppose ?
However, gentlemen; I let the matter rest there ,and may I say , many many thanks for your interest and interesting comments and help in enlightment, so very much appreciated, and I shall continue to watch and hopefully, still learn, via these forums God Bless