We have beat this particular horse to insensibility in the past on this
forum... As soon as I saw the first posting I knew that Tom would chime in...
Let me add a factoid...
Numerous times in flying I have flown through precip that causes severe static
in the COM radios (aircraft com radios are VHF AM), such as rain and snow,... I
have also read reports of air tankers having static problems flying in heavy
smoke over forest fires...
The worst I precip static was ever in was flying across Lake Erie one night
from Cleveland towards Detroit in 18-20 F degree temps and heavy snow... I was
flying my Super Viking which has wood wings and a steel tube fuselage with a
dacron fabric cover... We were doing 180 mph through the air...
The static charge built up on the airframe surface until it began to arc across
various parts of the airframe (probably from the wing surface to the steel
frame of the fuselage at exposed bolts, etc.)
It would begin as a sharp "tick" in the headphones... The tick would be perhaps
once a second, then increase in frequency until it was like a machine gun,
then start elevating in pitch until it became a mixed howling / roaring sound
that obliterated all communications... From just before the machine gun stage
onwards I could not hear air traffic control... Then there would be an enormous
'bang' followed by complete silence during which I could get a 5 - 10 second
transmission from ATC, by then the tick, tick restarted... The whole cycle
would take from 30 to 60 seconds...
The interesting part is that as I flew in and out of the snow showers, there
was not a trace of static when I was out of the snow... As soon as the snow
thickened in the windscreen it would promptly start ticking again...
denny
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See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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