Cecil Moore wrote:
wrote:
When it gets bad, it is quite visible as very random "snow" on TV
channels 2 through 4 on an otherwise perfect picture.

The snow is spots of extremely short duration.

So one can see the individual charged particles even if
one cannot hear the individual charged particles. That
makes a lot of sense. I wish I had thought to hook my
antenna up to my TV while the charged particle problem
was occurring.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

Well, at this point I wouldn't bet the farm on the base cause being
charged partcles impacting the antenna, but if it walks like a duck
and quacks like a duck...

However, for this particular effect it is obvious that it is quantized
and that the rate of generation is directly proportional to the
wind speed.

Since there is nothing in the air large enough to be visible, it
would seem reasonable that whatever is delivering charge to something
is dust particles.

The number of dust particles in the air is also directly proportional
to the wind speed, lending further credence to the theory.

As to how to test the theory, fooling around with the TV antenna on
the roof with 40 to 60 knot gusts isn't going to be done by me no
matter how much beer you provide.

One thought would be to make a pair of channel 2 dipoles with one
inside a non-conducting dust cover.

Put the two antennas side by side and compare the results seen on
the TV screen.

Another experiment would be to build a full sized dipole and a
shortened loaded dipole for channel 2.

If the effect is caused by particles impacting the antenna, the
quantity of snow would be proportional to the antenna sizes.

It would be interesting to see what happens.

In any case, Santa Ana winds don't normally appear this time of
year, so there are about six months to come up with a definative
experiment.

And yes, if it is simple and cheap enough, I'm willing to do it.

--
Jim Pennino

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