[Towertalk] Explain this!

[Mike]

This happened one time when I was going to school at Ohio State. I
don't recall exactly how he discovered it, but N8SM was drawing 3 to
4" long arcs off the feedline of W8LT's 600' long wire. As I recall it was a
very cold windy day with a light rain. Must have been the right combination
of wind speed, temperature, humidity, percipitation etc. It was very
impressive.

73 de Mike, W4EF..............................



----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Lux" <jimlux@earthlink.net>
To: "Scott Detloff K8DX" <ni8l@raex.com>; <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 6:41 AM
Subject: Re: [Towertalk] Explain this!


> electrostatic charging by the wind blown raindrops? This is a commonly
known
> phenomenon. (called p-static in the aviation area).. Off hand, I don't
know
> if your setup could hold enough charge to allow it to build up to a high
> enough voltage for corona or surface
> discharge....
>
> Also occurs with blowing dust.  There are documented cases of telegraph
> wires stretched across miles of prarie accumulating enough charge to
support
> a steady spark to ground at one end.  Also cases of 3-4 foot (!) long
sparks
> emanating from the tops of very dry sand dunes out at White Sands National
> Monument.
>
> The real question is whether your ground network/antenna was grounded or
> just left floating?
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Scott Detloff K8DX" <ni8l@raex.com>
> To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
> Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 4:17 AM
> Subject: [Towertalk] Explain this!
>
>
> Woke up early this morning from the high winds and rain, not
> to go down to the shack to listen for VK9ML on 160M :-)
> As I often do when we have high winds, I came downstairs and
> took a look outside to see how the antennas were surviving.
> You have a tendency to do this when you've had a tower come
> down :-)
>
> I spotted something "glowing" about  the spot where my SW wire
> vertical for the 80M 4SQ is.  At first I thought it was an animal,
> and I was just seeing its eyes, but it wasn't moving, and turning on
> the lights on in the back of the house didn't scare it away.
>
> I took out the binoculars and could definitely tell it was the at the
> base of the vertical that was glowing at the point where 120+ radials
> run up through a 2" white PVC pipe into a Rubbermaid box that
> holds an aluminum plate that connects all the radials.  Even though
> it was completely dark out, wind still blowing, and raining,  I could
> see the 4 X 4 post that everything is attached to, as well as the plastic
> box with a dull white glow.  I watched it for another 15 minutes or so,
> then went back to catch a little more sleep.  There is nothing to reflect
> off
> of.  Inspection of the vertical this morning shows nothing out of the
> ordinary.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Scott Detloff K8DX
> Paris, Ohio
> Visit The North Coast Contesters @  www.qsl.net/ncc
> Tour K8DX @  www.qsl.net/k8dx
>
>
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