><snip>
>> I have used both ways and had rain static on both. One morning on 80 mtrs
>> last winter, we tracked a highly charged cloud (the "putt-putt" sound)
>> across central California. It was raining before the cloud, during the cloud
>> and after the cloud passed by. We had several types of antennas. Some were
>> insulated, some were not. The antennas included Yagis, dipoles, loops and
>> verticals. We all heard the same thing as it passed by.
>
>I did something very similar several years ago in Texas where the
>"put-put" type of precipitation static was very common. Typically the
>"put-put" increases in frequency (of "puts") and ends with an, almost
>constant roar and then ends abruptly...presumably after something
>discharged...only to start over again. This scenario is open to almost
>endless variations.
>
>At the time I had three different antennas, four if you count a 1/4 wave
>vertical as an antenna :-) on 20 meters....a 3 element plumbers delight
>with all elements grounded, a three element Hornet trap tribander with
>the driven element insulated from the boom and a two element cubical
>quad. A comparative check of all antennas during a particularly nasty
>"put-put" session indicated no difference between the yagis and the
>vertical. The cubical quad was quiet...no "put-put" at all. I
>concluded then, and continue to believe, that the closed loop of the
>quad was the quietest antenna relative to "precipitation static." It is
>also the ugliest and most unwieldy antenna that I have ever had to deal
>with...but quiet.
>
>I have also played with resistors, RFCs and neon bulbs to try to "drain"
>off the static charge. Perhaps they kept me from being struck by the
>great monster bolt of lightning, but they did nothing to reduce the
>noise level on the yagis.
>
>If anyone has had different (or similar) results, please share them with
>us.
>
>73,
>Ken K4XL
>
You described exactly what I hear also. Starts with a slow put pu, builds
up to a ferocious roar, and ends with putting, 3 minute delay, then all
over again.
I have two TH6'ss on the tower stacked, and almost without fail, the upper
yagi gets the puts almost exclusively. I'm no lightning expert, but as far
as I know about lightning, as charged particles are building up around any
given area, and not discharged soon enough- you get lightning when
sufficient energy has built up. Perhaps the "putz" are nothing more than
listening to those charged drops of rain gradually discharge the electric
field around the tower area???, thus 'maybe' reducing the chance of a
lighting strike?
Just a thought.
CUL
Shawn
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