Hi, Tom, et al,
> From: "Tom Rauch" <w8ji@contesting.com>
> 2.) When others observe this noise, they hear it much less on low
> antennas. The same source is "supplying" the rain or snow hitting
> all the antennas, yet the lower antennas (despite being struck by
> just as much moisture) are much quieter.
Precisely. And that is my observation as well. It is this exact thing that
convinces me that the real mechanism for the snow static is still not really
nailed down.
If the phenomenon is a high charge coming down on the flake that discharges to
the high yagi, only those flakes hitting the yagi will discharge, with the rest
of the flakes dropping below. *BUT*, it is very easy to see that the lower yagi
is getting JUST AS MUCH SNOW on it as the upper yagi.
*IF* it is a charged flake discharging to a neutral yagi making the noise, then
the lower yagi *MUST* be noisey also. But the lower yagi ISN'T, it's quieter.
What if it were an oppositely charged yagi discharging to a charged snowflake.
The question becomes whether the upper yagi, pulling electrons or holes from
the neutral earth in response to the opposite charge in the snowy "cloud"
above, has more of such a charge on it than the yagi below.
Where do all the little electrons/holes go? To the spot as close as possible to
the opposite charge in the snow "cloud"? but wouldn't that still leave some
noise in the lower yagi as charged flakes discharge to the admittedly more
neutral yagi below?
*OR*, what if the flakes themselves carried less or relatively little charge,
and the charge on the yagi was in response to the real cloud above, a
pre-lightning situation with not enough pizazz to actually create lightning
discharge.
THAT would explain a quiet lower yagi, with most of the capacitor-effect charge
running to the high points on the top yagi. What you would be hearing on the
upper yagi is THE YAGI DISCHARGING TO THE MORE NEUTRAL SNOWFLAKES.
Good excuse for a contester to put a warc-band beam on top of everything. Or
put some non-resonant non-antenna antenna-like structure up there.
Not claiming any proof for all the above, just stating an alternate premise for
a failed common explanation of snow/rain static.
Regards, Guy.
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