On Friday, June 15, 2012 4:06:25 PM UTC-5, NM5K wrote:
Only in the cases of corona buildup, etc, on the
elements would that be the case.

He may be talking about precipitation static which was considerably reduced for me in the AZ desert when I converted my dipole to a folded dipole. My problem was dust storms even on a sunny day.

http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs-1037/dir-028/_4096.htm

P-static is unrelated to the reception of EM RF far-field signals. It is a static charge transferred from charged particles in the air directly to an antenna. It was so bad in AZ that arcing occurred at my coax connector. I have actually seen the p-static envelope on my IC-756PRO's display.

The problem with a dipole is that one element of the dipole normally does not have a DC path to ground. When the p-static discharge takes place, it may be through the series capacitor in the receiver. With a loop antenna, including a folded dipole, the p-static usually has a path directly to ground from any point in the antenna system. It's not the only path but it certainly reduces the p-static noise although not completely eliminating it.

Of course, it is possible to reduce the p-static problems on a dipole with a parallel resistor/choke, a 4:1 voltage balun, or heavily insulated wires. Hams who live in low p-static areas of the country will invariably say that there is no such thing because they have never seen it. But hams who have lived in the AZ desert know better.
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73, Cecil, w5dxp.com