Are there any measures of voltage, current, joules or cole
slaw on antennas in this area? Do they experience the "noise"?
Couldn't one connect a large capacitor circuit to store the charge
and
trickle it to a battery?
==========================================

About 20 years ago I measured the charge produced on a 150-feet,
long-wire, end-fed inverted-L antenna, using a DC, 0 to 50 micro-amp,
moving coil meter.

It was a warm afternoon. Temperature about 25 degrees C. There was a
clear-blue, cloudless sky with a dry breeze. I assume very low
atmospheric humidity otherwise the charge would leaked away over the
antenna's insulators.

There was a 300pF receiving-type, air-spaced tuning capacitor in
series with the antenna. The other side of the capacitor was grounded
via the transceiver which was not switched on.

Every few seconds the capacitor was breaking down with an audible
click. I could not see a spark. The plates were spaced about 1mm
apart. It was the clicks which drew my attention to what was going
on. The clicks slowly varied at a rate of 1 every few seconds to as
many as 5 or 6 per second.

I removed the capacitor and grounded the antenna through the
micro-ammeter. The current varied around 10 to 20 microamps. After 5
or 10 minutes the effect gradually died away.

I can't remember the current polarity. The transceiver had not been
damaged.

While making the connections with un-insulated aligator clips I
received one or two mild shocks. All for the sake of science!

Later on in the day, clouds built up and there was a thunder and rain
storm. Electricity had been in the air all along. How it got there I
can't imagine except that it may have been due to the friction of dry
air blowing past the antenna wire.

There was no precipitation unless it was plant pollen in the air. I
don't suffer from hay fever or asthma.
----
Reg, G4FGQ