[Elecraft] OT: Dry air static

[Gary Smith]

8-9 years back I made a beverage system, 
it went over a marsh. One beverage was 
800+' long & the other around 500', I had 
the proper lengths at the time. I ran PVC 
piping with a "T" at the top to run the 
wire through to keep deer from hitting it 
and to keep it off the Phragmites (swamp 
reeds) below.

It was the worst antenna I have ever tried 
to listen on. The dry reeds below rustling 
in the wind caused so much static that the 
noise level from it was more than all but 
a handful of local signals. Took me weeks 
to install and fight through the jungle of 
reeds and I ended up taking them down 
after a couple weeks of frustration. I 
worked no DX with those Beverages. Sans 
static from the reeds, they would have 
been awesome.

73,

Gary
KA1J

 
> Snow static as well during blizzards do wonders to light up a neon
> bulb. I used to put one between my long-wire and ground, even wind
> when it would get a good swing would do the same thing
> 
> Fred
> VE3FAL
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> Fred VE3FAL/CIW649
> 
> 
> > On Oct 31, 2018, at 19:13, Rose <elecraftcovers at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > Fred,
> > 
> > I recall the output capacitor of the pi-net capacitor in my HT-17
> > rythmatically snapping in response to the charged particles of dust
> > in the dry Oklahoma air building up on the long wire antenna. (;-)
> > 
> > 73 !
> > 
> > K0PP
> > kengkopp at gmail.com
> > 
> >> On Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 16:42 Fred Jensen <k6dgw at foothill.net wrote:
> >> 
> >> Hmmm ... There seem to be different flavors of static.  My
> >> reference was to what is often called "precipitation static" [rain,
> >> snow, maybe hail] and which can sometimes also be caused by wind
> >> blowing sand/dust past the antenna.  It sounds like bacon frying in
> >> the receiver.  Each drop or snowflake acquires a minuscule charge
> >> falling or blowing which discharges into the antenna on contact. 
> >> The typical semiconductor devices in radio front ends these days
> >> exhibit a nearly infinite impedance to "ground" and a tiny
> >> capacitance.  The constant little pulses from the static charge
> >> that capacitance with essentially no discharge path.  That's what
> >> fried the 1st 760 II and then, predictably, the second one.
> >> 
> >> There is also the combined "static" caused by distant
> >> thunderstorms.
> >> 
> >> INT QRN: "Are you troubled by static"
> >> QRN: "I am troubled by static"
> >> 
> >> which is different than "static" caused by corona or leakage on a
> >> high voltage power transmission line.
> >> 
> >> 73,
> >> 
> >> Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
> >> Sparks NV DM09dn
> >> Washoe County
> >> 
> >> PS:  For those about to tell me "nearly infinite" is a meaningless
> >> term, save the BW.  I know, I hold a math degree.  Just using a
> >> little editorial license.
> >> 
> >>> On 10/31/2018 3:10 PM, ab2tc wrote:
> >>> Hi,
> >>> 
> >>> It's a dead short circuit for DC and low frequencies thanks to the
> >>> SWR bridge (it has a voltage transformer directly across the
> >>> antenna
> >> terminals).
> >>> There seems to be different opinions on what is meant by "static".
> >>> To me
> >> it
> >>> means a slowly varying DC voltage caused by static buildup in the
> >>> clouds during or before thunderstorms. The K3(S) is perfectly
> >>> protected against these. Some people include the transients that
> >>> are caused by actual lightning strikes nearby in the definition of
> >>> "static". The K3(S) is not protected against these as they have
> >>> very strong high frequency content.
> >> For
> >>> these extra protection is needed as discussed several places in
> >>> this
> >> thread.
> >>> I have a number of Alpha-Delta switches in my antenna system and
> >>> they
> >> have
> >>> gas discharge tubes, but frankly I have no idea how effective they
> >>> are.
> >>> 
> >>> AB2TC - Knut
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> wayne burdick wrote
> >>>>> On Oct 30, 2018, at 12:50 PM, Fred Jensen &lt;
> >>>> k6dgw@
> >>>> &gt; wrote:
> >>>>> Does my K3 have a static bleed across the antenna terminal(s)?
> >>>> Yes.
> >>>> 
> >>>> Wayne
> >>>> N6KR