During conversation, a colleague proposed that over-the-air television and radio broadcasters can determine the number of viewers or listeners based on the "load" on their signal. This seems to me like total bupkis, but he's piqued my curiosity and I've not been able to find a discernible answer when searching the web to prove him right or wrong.
Is such a thing even possible? Do the number of receivers within the broadcast range of a transmitter put any "load" on that signal? I always thought that the amount of power required for a transmitter simply determined the distance at which the signal could still be reliably received. AFAIK receiving a radio signal does not require any actual power at the listener's end, except to filter and amplify that signal into something useful, and that power is provided locally.
If this were true, it seemed plausible to me that one could place several signal monitors at a fixed radius from the transmitter and measure the signal strength at each. Monitors with weaker signal must have more receivers between that monitor and the transmitter, which could be used to extrapolate the number of receivers within that arc of the radius at, say, -3 dBm per receiver.
What I do know is that obstructions between the transmitter and receiver degrade the strength of the signal, so in that situation, one would have to account for buildings, trees, mountains, birds, precipitation, clouds, airplanes, helicopters, low-flying kayaks, large snowmen, and Santa Claus.
Best Answer
Actually, yes, a receiver can affect the transmitter. Passive RFID is based on this principle.
However, RFID only works at very close distances, where the receiver is absorbing something on the order of 10-4 to 10-5 of the transmitter's signal. In other words, the transmitter is sending out hundreds of milliwatts, while the receiver is absorbing a few microwatts. Such changes are just barely detectable at the transmitter with careful techniques.
However, for general broadcast radio, the transmitter is sending out tens to hundreds of kilowatts, while the receiver is absorbing tens to hundreds of femtowatts, which is a fraction on the order of 10-18. This is completely undetectable at the transmitter. Furthermore, receivers absorb signal regardless of whether they're turned on or not, so even if it were detectable, it would tell you nothing about how many people were actually listening.