force12@interserv.com wrote:
<snip>
> I have used both ways and had rain static on both. One morning on 80 mtrs
> last winter, we tracked a highly charged cloud (the "putt-putt" sound)
> across central California. It was raining before the cloud, during the cloud
> and after the cloud passed by. We had several types of antennas. Some were
> insulated, some were not. The antennas included Yagis, dipoles, loops and
> verticals. We all heard the same thing as it passed by.
I did something very similar several years ago in Texas where the
"put-put" type of precipitation static was very common. Typically the
"put-put" increases in frequency (of "puts") and ends with an, almost
constant roar and then ends abruptly...presumably after something
discharged...only to start over again. This scenario is open to almost
endless variations.
At the time I had three different antennas, four if you count a 1/4 wave
vertical as an antenna :-) on 20 meters....a 3 element plumbers delight
with all elements grounded, a three element Hornet trap tribander with
the driven element insulated from the boom and a two element cubical
quad. A comparative check of all antennas during a particularly nasty
"put-put" session indicated no difference between the yagis and the
vertical. The cubical quad was quiet...no "put-put" at all. I
concluded then, and continue to believe, that the closed loop of the
quad was the quietest antenna relative to "precipitation static." It is
also the ugliest and most unwieldy antenna that I have ever had to deal
with...but quiet.
I have also played with resistors, RFCs and neon bulbs to try to "drain"
off the static charge. Perhaps they kept me from being struck by the
great monster bolt of lightning, but they did nothing to reduce the
noise level on the yagis.
If anyone has had different (or similar) results, please share them with
us.
73,
Ken K4XL
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