Hi Tower-talkians....
Does this mean that if I use insulated antenna wire I don't have to use
my wife's laundry Static Cling-Free tied every three feet along my
dipoles?
Perhaps then, if I used the insulating qualities of Scotch 88 vinyl
tape, triple wrapped on my TA-33 elements, that too will eliminate
using the unsightly Static Cling-Free that's hanging from the beam...
spaced every two feet (close-spaced for extra static dissipation).
I think this will solve the static problem but it will increase the
expense and weight by using all that tape and the labor of all that
wrapping. Then again... if I just strung the full rolls of tape along
the beam elements.... But... and it's a big BUT..... my beam WON'T
SHINE anymore! Drats. It sure will droop however.
A corollary effect would also be... the damage that would be done to
all the birds who now alight on the beam and willingly flagellate
themselves on the Cling-Free cloths. When they fly off and alight
elsewhere [Yes! Of course they smell great]... they now no longer
build up a static charge flapping through the air and consequently
don't have to draw arcs off of branches when they come in for a
landing. Now it'll be back to the same old winter shock-em sock-em.
Perhaps the simplest solution is to just disconnect my coax from the
rig and ground it occasionally. That'll discharge the static and, if I
do that every few minutes it'll sure save having to look at some
unsightly antennas. Perhaps I can even learn to time the static
discharge arcs and thus send some crude cw and WORK ALL BANDS... AT
ONCE like I use to do with an old Harvey Wells Bandmaster [I think the
band switch was there just for effect].
Didn't I read somewhere that using stranded wire for dipoles
automatically eliminates static build-up because the static charges...
spiraling around each strand... cancel each other... out of sheer
dizziness.
No! I haven't started drinking early for the party.... I just haven't
stopped from last year!
Have fun in the New Year guys and Never Forget..... to keep smiling.
Roger, K2JAS... Just Always Smiling!!!
At 02:40 AM 12/31/97 +0000, you wrote:
>I once heard a learned engineer argue for the use of housewiring for wire
>antennas not because it was soft copper but because it was insulated and
>the rain static would be lower as there would be a release of that static
>energy without it being against your antenna....being an engineering
school
>dropout I do not pass this on as gospel - and I sure don't follow it
in my
>antennas....but he sure made it sound convincing!
>
>73 de
>
>Jim White, K4OJ
>k4oj@ij.net
>Florida Contest Group
>...visit our website @ http://www.4w.com/deemer/fcg.htm
>
>
>
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