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Re: OT: Dry air static

Posted by Gary Smith-2 on Nov 02, 2018; 3:17pm
URL: http://elecraft.85.s1.nabble.com/OT-Dry-air-static-tp7646033p7646061.html

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 <[hidden email]> 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
> > [hidden email]
> >
> >> On Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 16:42 Fred Jensen <[hidden email] 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

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