Originally Posted by pitcoken

For those who care: That little ball on top of the antenna does serve a purpose. The antenna moving through air builds up a static charge. When the charge is high enough, it ionizes surrounding air and discharges producing a pop in reception. The little ball raises the voltage level required to ionize surrounding air and prevents the discharge and pop. Ever wonder why a Windhurst Static Machine has that big globe on top? That is so it can build up charges of 10's of thousands of volts before ionizing the air and discharging.