Cecil Moore wrote:

The way I reduced the problem with open-ended antennas is
to use heavily insulated wire. Bare conductors transfer
all charges. 600 volt insulation blocks charge transfer. In
my experience, 1000v insulation blocks most charge transfer.

Your radio doesn't actually hear clear down to DC, does it? :-)

The effect is heard as a result of the charge striking the antenna,
thus changing the charge on the antenna. As you know, for a given
capacitance, a 600 volt dielectric couples charge just as well as a
1000 volt dielectric. In such a case the 'pop' is capacitively
coupled broadband noise. But whether the antenna is insulated or not,
looped or not, the static noise is due to a rapid (albeit small)
change in charge on the antenna being coupled by some means into the
receiver.

I use something called "Quietflex" that has 1000v insulation.
Most of the precipitation static doesn't transfer to
the antenna wire while RF waves/photons flow right
through the insulation with little attenuation. I suspect
plastic encased antennas are quieter than bare antennas.

Maybe. It would make sense that the amount of static noise coupled
from the environment would be proportional to the coupling
capacitance. Knowing that charge tends to gather on a surface, the
thicker the 'dielectric', the lower the capacitance. A small series
capacitor in most circuits would tend to differentiate an impulse,
producing a signal which is proportional to the slope of the impulse.
With larger values of capacitance the coupled signals tend to follow
the input. So although it's not likely that insulation would reduce
the number of noise 'events', it is possible that it would narrow the
resulting broadband power spectrum. This could be helpful, as long as
it narrows it in the part of the spectrum you happen to be using. ;-)

73, ac6xg