[TowerTalk] Precipitation static

[Rick Stealey]

Tom has a good description of this phenomenon at 
http://www.w8ji.com/pecipitation_static.htm  (Yes, it is spelled wrong on the site)

I am experiencing it exactly as he describes, on a 40 m beam that is mounted 5 feet below a 3 element Steppir.  No noise on the Steppir.
Is p-static different than plain old static buildup, which I always assumed was drained off by a resistor in my lightning arrestor?

Tom seems to say there is essentially nothing that can be done, other than to lower the antenna or redesign it to eliminate any sharp points, so my concern is what damage can this do to my rig?  It's easy to say don't use the rig/antenna when there are storms, but how would you know until it's too late in the case of an approaching storm?  My lightning arrestor has an R and gas tube to ground.  When it first occurred I didn't realize what it was, until it abruptly ended when a strike occurred.  The beam was connected to my TS-590 and there was no damage.


Rick  K2XT