Ham Radio Help Desk

Irrespective of the fact the solder-the-braid PL-259 connector is probably the worst RF connector conceived by the mind of man¹ and the fact the spark shown in the video is in an area that should be a direct short, the video, shown below, wonderfully shows the ease with which static charge can build up on a dipole antenna.

That’s not the point though. If we were to cut off the connector we would surely still see a spark from center conductor to shield. If the cable were near station ground I would expect a spark jump. That large a charge has to go somewhere.

The point is a wire, any wire, with wind blowing on it will build a static charge. We should keep this in mind as we design our antenna systems. Including a DC path to ground is prudent.

I cannot imagine a more teachable YouTube moment. Thanks to the poster for making this video available.

Here is a link to a very old video which explains quite nicely what and how static charge occurs…

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2306375174608358801&hl=en#

73

1. Crimp on connectors have been the norm in industry since at least the 1970s. I’m just ashamed it took me so long to figure this out.

Tags: 80m, dipole, pl259, spark, static