wrote in message
ups.com...

Reg Edwards wrote:
Precipitation static, eg., from highly charged raindrops and fine
snow
or fine sand, impinging on the antenna wire, just causes an
increase
in receiver white noise level. It can be reduced but not removed
by
using a very thickly insulated antenna wire, like the inner
conductor
of a coaxial cable complete with its polyethylene jacket.
----
Reg.

I've never seen a case of precitation static occuring that way.

In every single case I've seen, whether on tall buildings, tall
towers,
or antenna hear earth, it has always been corona discharges from the
antenna or objects near the antenna.

How do I know this?

1.) I had side by side "insulated" and "unisulated" Beverage antenna
wires that are otherwide identical except for being spaced a few
dozen
feet apart, and the antebnna pointed towards my tall towers had
precip
static and the others did not. Both were equal in noise despite the
fact they are hit by the same rain or dust.

2.) I have Yagis on towers that are identical, and the LOWER antenna
almost never has precipitation static despite the fact they are hit
by
the same rain or dust.

3.) I've had dipoles at various heights, and the lower dipole always
has much less precipitation staic than the high dipole despite the
fact
they get the same rain or dust.

4.) The period of the noise has nothing at all to do with the number
of
droplets hitting the antenna. It increases in pitch as the charge
gradient between earth and clouds builds, then when lightning
flashes
it immediatly stops without time delay.

5.) On tall buildings on dark nights in storms, we could actually
hear
the same pitch noise as the repeaters rebroadcast, and walk to the
noise source and actually see the corona.

6.) Antennas in fiberglass radomes were no quieter than bare metal
dipoles on tall buildings.

7.) I even used an electrostatic sprayer to charge droplets and hit
an
antenna, and could only simulate noise when the antenna element had
a
sharp point and I got near the sharp point...at which time I could
see
faint corona.
========================================
Tom,

The description "precipitate" clearly applies to what is being
precipitated onto the antenna, eg., rain drops, hail-stones, snow
particles, sand particles in a sandstorm, etc.

When charged to a high potential, on impinging on the antenna wire,
the charge on a particle is suddenly released causing a click in the
headphones. A very rapid succession of small random clicks
constitutes white noise.

I, and everybody else in the uK, have experienced rain static dozens
of times, sometimes 10 or 20 dB above S9 on the S-meter. At the start
of a rain storm and when nearing its end, individual clicks can be
heard. As expected, when the clouds are most highly charged, the
noise is most intense when there is thunder about. It can amount to a
roar. It is loudest on the lower HF bands and at MF but that may be
due to the physically larger antennas.

What you have been suffering from is not precipitation or rain static.
You should give it a different name. If you have never experienced
rain static, perhaps you disconnect your antenna when a thunder storm
storm is approaching and before it starts to rain.
----
Reg.