Topband: Stainless Steel for coil taps.

[Rob Atkinson]

> There was also some mention to the effect that nickel was
> a "non-ferrous" metal and therefore would be good at RF.
> Nothing could be further from the truth.  Although technically
> "non-ferrous", nickel is nevertheless "ferromagnetic".
> I once measured some nickel strap material for RF loss
> and it was horrific.  Much worse than even what its DC
> resistivity would suggest.

This got me reading (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferromagnetism) and
I must state that I was mistaken about nickel, which of course is part
of AlNiCo speaker magnets for one thing.  I apologize and thank N6RK
for this correction.  The Wikipedia article mentions some types of
stainless steel as being non-magnetic as I discovered by trial and
error years ago (but even so s.s. has a lot of resistance as has been
mentioned).

Brass is also a poor conductor.  I failed to mention that some metals
such as brass in a tank circuit are okay as threaded fasteners but are
not good for use as strap.   If you routinely build or modify RF
matching networks or run strap for grounding etc., it's very nice to
have on hand a roll of copper strap, pair of sheet metal scissors, and
a Roper Whitney Jr. hand punch.

73
Rob
K5UJ