Cecil Moore wrote:
Tom Donaly wrote:

Cecil, you can do a web search for "precipitation static," and
"Saint Elmo's fire," to find out what most people think
precipitation static is. Before I'd believe that each little
raindrop makes a noise as it strikes the antenna, I'd want to
see an experiment showing this.


It's only raindrops having a charge different from
the antenna that make the noise and I have previously
explained the mechanism of charge equalization between
the two dipole elements through the link.

Seems to me only magical thinking would result in each
and every raindrop having a charge exactly equal to the
antenna upon which it is falling. I'd like to see you
come up with a proof for such an assertion.

Most of the sources on the
web, at least, don't mention it, but generally agree with
Tom about the cause of the problem. You can read all that
for yourself.


I have read it for myself and *nothing* I have read agrees
with W8JI. Corona doesn't exist until ionization takes
place. Precipitation static and even arcing do not require
any corona to exist. Here's a web page that explains the
difference between arcing and corona discharge including
a gray area called "brush discharges".

http://www.ce-mag.com/archive/1999/novdec/mrstatic.html

Please notice that arcing at a coax connector doesn't require
corona at all.

Cecil,
show me your experiments. You can ratiocinate your head
off and you still won't be any closer to the truth. Tell me how I
can spray water drops on my antenna and make a noise in my
receiver as each drop hits the antenna. Can you do it?
73,
Tom Donaly, KA6RUH