[TowerTalk] Rain drops noise on Yagi (dipole)

[Jim Thomson]

###  Below is  from the  1952  RCA  book  called ...  radio antenna engineering,  
on page 231.   It’s a superb book.  553 pages.  Found it online somewhere  years ago,
and had saved the PDF.  Also an  excellent write up on diversity reception,  using ants  1000
ft apart.  The book covers LF, MF, and HF.   Now all I need is a  6 pack of that elusive  GE
HV  acrylic spray bomb, and I am all set... to repeat my  1981 experiment,  dousing the yagi els
with it.   This time around, I would also spray the boom etc, as well. 

Jim   VE7RF  

....  There is one form of  atmospheric noise that can be reduced by suitable antenna design, and
that is the kind known as... precipitation static.  This  occurs when there is wind blown dust, sand, snow,
or fog..electrical noise from these sources is chiefly due to their charged particles hitting and
imparting their charges  to the metallic portions of the receiving antenna and feeder.  It has been 
found that this kind of interference can be substantially  reduced by using thickly insulated wires 
for the antenna and feeder and by not having any exposed metallic surfaces.   In  low noise regions, 
precipitation static may be the  cause of limiting noise,  so the application of this technique may be
very helpful in reducing the noise level.