For those with insulated verticals, the potential gradient is about 100 V/meter. That varies with humidity and altitude. But, you get the picture. In dry climates like here in NM, this is a big deal for commercial broadcast AM antennas. Even with the transmitter shut down, unless there is a "DC ground" on the antenna, one shorts the tower to ground first prior to climbing on or off the tower. This was a big deal when the local power company rescued three folks from our 770 tower after it "captured" their hot air balloon!
Bleeding off static electricity is a big deal. Wind blowing dust, snow, or rain can generate thousands of Volts that can provide a mean shock to us humans and hurt our radio gear. I am leaving for the race track to play with my Miata this weekend. I will disconnect my antennas, just in case. 73, Bill, K8TE -- Sent from: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/ ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
