Thanks to Captain Kilowatt's post recently, I found myself perusing W8JI's web site and stumbled across this:
Antenna Grounds
The static comment is what really caught my attention, "Static drain chokes prevent electric fields from trickle charging a tower that has no resistive or DC path to earth. For example, my insulated 300-foot tower will charge to several thousand volts when brisk breezes flow, especially before storms. Walking up to the tower and touching it, on a day with a brisk breeze, produces quite a "wake-up shock"."
And then I started wondering... is there a way to harness this electricity generated by static? I know Ben Franklin did it! And if so, why don't commercial broadcasters use the energy to charge a battery system? Is it simply too much voltage to deal with? It seems like "free" electricity to me.
73,
RT307
Antenna Grounds
The static comment is what really caught my attention, "Static drain chokes prevent electric fields from trickle charging a tower that has no resistive or DC path to earth. For example, my insulated 300-foot tower will charge to several thousand volts when brisk breezes flow, especially before storms. Walking up to the tower and touching it, on a day with a brisk breeze, produces quite a "wake-up shock"."
And then I started wondering... is there a way to harness this electricity generated by static? I know Ben Franklin did it! And if so, why don't commercial broadcasters use the energy to charge a battery system? Is it simply too much voltage to deal with? It seems like "free" electricity to me.
73,
RT307