Did you know that snowfall causes static to build on your antenna?

When it discharges (hot side to the ground side) it CAN damage your radio.

Under normal circumstances, light falling snow is far less hazardous than heavy blowing blizzard snow.

Background for me personally…. A DXpedition a number of years ago set up a rig onboard the boat that they were using to sail to the island which happened to be an Antarctic island.

They used one of the rigs that was designated for the DXpedition in order to be on the air maritime mobile during the sail. Unfortunately, the rig’s receiver went dead so they brought out a second radio. At some point that second radio’s receiver also went dead. They were using a deck mounted vertical antenna that was “above ground” and using the boat’s ground for the groundplane. They were sailing through blowing snow which was causing snow induced static to build on the antenna and discharge across the coax connector in the radio thus damaging the receiver in both radios. After research, they figured this all out albeit a little late. On future “boat” maritime mobile setups, they added a “vertical antenna matching network” which essentially is a coil across the antenna (at the base of the antenna) which puts the entire antenna at “electrical ground” thus shunting any discharge to ground before it comes inside to the radio. On subsequent DXpeditions, they did not have any more issues with snow static discharge damage.

I found this link that shows you what it could look like.

December 21, 2008 - Snow Static With Video At W1UJR - Amateur Radio Station W1UJR

The conclusion is that you should always disconnect your antenna from your station during any storms, including heavy snow events.

Everybody stay warm and safe this weekend!

73!

de Bob Schenck, N2OO

President SJDXA!