"Szczepan Bialek" wrote in message
...

No, the earth doesn't act as a surface of a capacitor. Capacitors will
self-discharge even when they aren't connected to any circuit.

My answer was to Sal. He wrote: "(Last year, I used a 20m dipole at 30
feet, operating out of my van.
Everything floated above ground without incident and many QSOs.)"

The floor of the van is the plate and the surface of the Earth is the
second plate.
S*

Thanks, Szczepan . That made me smile. I'm sure you will find sites on the
web that will help you to understand capacitors.

Have a nice day. Ian.