We have a rather high noise level around here on 160 thru 40 (I use an
MFJ-1026 to cut down on the noise and it works pretty well ... but, I
digress...).

During rainy weather, though, the noise level seems to go way down, from
S7+ down to S1 or S2.

Reading everything I've read about "precipitation static" and such, I
would have expected it to be the other way around.

What is it about general "noise" that makes it go way down during rainy
weather?

Antenna is a 160-meter inverted V up 50+ feet in the center and fed with
ladder line, but I see the same effect on my 17-foot-high coax-fed dipole
for 75 and 40 meters.

Noise goes down so low that I'm thinking about setting up a sprinkler to
keep the antenna wet! :-)

Rick (W-A-one-R-K-T) wrote:
Noise goes down so low that I'm thinking about setting up a sprinkler to
keep the antenna wet! :-)

Sounds like power line corona to me or maybe
a bad power line ground. When the corona discharge
path gets wet, it reduces the discharge threshold.
Guess sprinkling the power lines is not an option,
huh? :-)
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com

I have a little experience with powerline noise here in semi-rural southern
Oklahoma. I can't claim any expertise but it seems to work like this; As dry
weather dries the poles and hardware any arc sparking that occurs has to
span greater arc lengths and gets louder. If w e get rain (not so common in
the last year or so) the insulating factor of the dry poles and hardware is
diminished, spark arcs are shorter and the noise is reduced. Not every
electronic noisemaker is an outdoor iten, but if wet weather quiets'em down,
they probably are.Last year I had 30 days of S9+ noise before the power
companies "noise" crew could get to me and fix the problem. Turns out the
pole with my power service connection had an arcing ground wire which they
fixed in about 30 minutes. My background noise level dropped to a more
tolerable S1 oor S2. My pole was an old one and the ground wire on the pole
ran from the very top of the pole so it could act as a lightning rod as well
as a regular ground wire (they said the newer poles aren't wired that way
anymore). It, of neccessity,. ran close to insulator mounting hardware and
that was my noise source. They cut the top couple of feet off the old ground
wire, tightened the actual ground connections, and made my day.

Harold
KD5SAK

"Rick (W-A-one-R-K-T)" wrote in message
news


What is it about general "noise" that makes it go way down during rainy
weather?

Powerline noise, I confirm
Check those around you 1+/-mile around you
Then point your antenna towards the lines and you'll see the noise signal
going up.
Then pray for a lot of rain !

"Rick (W-A-one-R-K-T)" a écrit dans le message
de news: ...

We have a rather high noise level around here on 160 thru 40 (I use an
MFJ-1026 to cut down on the noise and it works pretty well ... but, I
digress...).

During rainy weather, though, the noise level seems to go way down, from
S7+ down to S1 or S2.

Reading everything I've read about "precipitation static" and such, I
would have expected it to be the other way around.

What is it about general "noise" that makes it go way down during rainy
weather?

Antenna is a 160-meter inverted V up 50+ feet in the center and fed with
ladder line, but I see the same effect on my 17-foot-high coax-fed dipole
for 75 and 40 meters.

Noise goes down so low that I'm thinking about setting up a sprinkler to
keep the antenna wet! :-)

Just for laughs
Water the yard around your ground rods really good and see what
happens...includeing the ground rod to your electric meter...
Joe

"Runge1" wrote in message
...
Powerline noise, I confirm
Check those around you 1+/-mile around you
Then point your antenna towards the lines and you'll see the noise signal
going up.
Then pray for a lot of rain !

"Rick (W-A-one-R-K-T)" a écrit dans le message
de news: ...

We have a rather high noise level around here on 160 thru 40 (I use an
MFJ-1026 to cut down on the noise and it works pretty well ... but, I
digress...).

During rainy weather, though, the noise level seems to go way down, from
S7+ down to S1 or S2.

Reading everything I've read about "precipitation static" and such, I
would have expected it to be the other way around.

What is it about general "noise" that makes it go way down during rainy
weather?

Antenna is a 160-meter inverted V up 50+ feet in the center and fed with
ladder line, but I see the same effect on my 17-foot-high coax-fed
dipole
for 75 and 40 meters.

Noise goes down so low that I'm thinking about setting up a sprinkler to
keep the antenna wet! :-)

do thje signals (not noise) go down too?

On May 15, 7:14 am, "Rick (W-A-one-R-K-T)"
wrote:
We have a rather high noise level around here on 160 thru 40 (I use an
MFJ-1026 to cut down on the noise and it works pretty well ... but, I
digress...).

During rainy weather, though, the noise level seems to go way down, from
S7+ down to S1 or S2.

Reading everything I've read about "precipitation static" and such, I
would have expected it to be the other way around.

What is it about general "noise" that makes it go way down during rainy
weather?

Antenna is a 160-meter inverted V up 50+ feet in the center and fed with
ladder line, but I see the same effect on my 17-foot-high coax-fed dipole
for 75 and 40 meters.

Noise goes down so low that I'm thinking about setting up a sprinkler to
keep the antenna wet! :-)

On Tue, 15 May 2007 15:25:49 -0700, herbert.don wrote:

do thje signals (not noise) go down too?

No, they stay pretty much up there.

Another reason is that as things dry out, the
connections to the pole Losen up , as the pole
shrinks, relative to the hardware. and- induction
to , say Crossarm Braces , can cause arcing ,
between those braces ! A way to check for this is
to give a pole a swift hit with a hammer. If the
noise goes away, or is changed, probably is loose
hardware on the pole . A thought for your
consideration- Jim NN7K

"Rick (W-A-one-R-K-T)" wrote in message
news

What is it about general "noise" that makes it go way down during rainy
weather?

Is the noise a 60 cycle hum ? or just noise in general? qrn or qrm?
I still think that it is a grounding problem .

I could be wrong but it sounds like thw same problem I had untill I
expanded my ground system and tied it to my utility (meterbase ground)
Then all the noise, vanished....
My 2 cents

"Jim - NN7K" wrote in message
...


Another reason is that as things dry out, the
connections to the pole Losen up , as the pole
shrinks, relative to the hardware. and- induction
to , say Crossarm Braces , can cause arcing ,
between those braces ! A way to check for this is
to give a pole a swift hit with a hammer. If the
noise goes away, or is changed, probably is loose
hardware on the pole . A thought for your
consideration- Jim NN7K

"Rick (W-A-one-R-K-T)" wrote in message
news

What is it about general "noise" that makes it go way down during rainy
weather?

Stuff talking about is arcing- 6o cycles should
have little to do with it. Also, had friend with
lamps going super bright , he got electrician to
go thru his power panel, and outlets- several 100$
later, got hold of power company, and they kept
stalling him (no problem found). after it also
ate several appliances, told him to keep checking.
As I suspicioned, on the power pole, they found
where a lightning strike had annealed the Neutral,
at it's connection to his service, and ground
wire! Point being lots of these services haven't
been looked at in years, and drying out/ vibration
on these can cause a lot of greif! Jim NN7K

merlin-7 wrote:
Is the noise a 60 cycle hum ? or just noise in general? qrn or qrm?
I still think that it is a grounding problem .

I could be wrong but it sounds like thw same problem I had untill I
expanded my ground system and tied it to my utility (meterbase ground)
Then all the noise, vanished....
My 2 cents

"Jim - NN7K" wrote in message
...

Another reason is that as things dry out, the
connections to the pole Losen up , as the pole
shrinks, relative to the hardware. and- induction
to , say Crossarm Braces , can cause arcing ,
between those braces ! A way to check for this is
to give a pole a swift hit with a hammer. If the
noise goes away, or is changed, probably is loose
hardware on the pole . A thought for your
consideration- Jim NN7K
"Rick (W-A-one-R-K-T)" wrote in message
news What is it about general "noise" that makes it go way down during rainy
weather?