Jim Kelley wrote:
Consider the nature of dielectric materials. I could be wrong, but I
bet if you stuck a negative oxygen ion on the outside of a jacketed
conductor, you could make the conductor inside think you had put an
electron directly on it.

The question is whether the electron stays on the insulation
or migrates through it to the conductor.

The size of the charge Vs the dielectric determines how
much of the charge actually reaches the conductor. When
I went from bare wire to 600v insulation, my precipitation
static problems decreased considerably. Then when I went to
1000v insulation and a full wave loop, most of my precipitation
static problems disappeared.

The worst case of precipitation static seems to be for
airplane antennas. Insulation is the recommended cure
although folding is also mentioned. Please do a web
search for "precipitation static" and see for yourself.

http://www.atis.org/tg2k/_precipitation_static.html
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp