[RFI] Rain induced static

[digital-conjurers at roadrunner.com]

I don't know a great deal about static induced directly by rain hitting HV 
lines, but here in dusty, sooty, gritty, 10-inches-of-rain-or-less-per-year 
San Diego County, I do know that the first rain of the season often 
produces havok if it's 1/2 or less; all the filth on the insulators from 10 
months of no rain makes an excellent electrical pathway when a little 
sprinkle is added.

Matter of fact, it usually takes a good 1" downpour or so to really wash 
the insulators well; until that happens, we get arcing, power surges, 
outages occasionally, etc etc, and lots of QRN.  The power co. does all it 
can to keep the insulators clean, but they never seem to be able to get all 
of them during the dry season, which is most of the time.

This is all I know of this sort of phenomenon.

-Lin/KJ6EF


At 09:23 AM 12/04/2007, you wrote:
>I've done some internet searches, but haven't found alot of useful
>information.  Does anyone have some links to websites/pages that
>describe the phenomena of rain induced static due to rain on HV or MV
>powerlines.  I've found a number of things talking about static caused
>by rain hitting an antenna.  I'm not talking about this.  I'm talking
>about rain hitting an HV or MV powerline?
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