Antenna components

[Dragonfly]

When out mobile dont forget to wear your tight,s in case the fanbelt snaps .

[Black_Pirate]

Just got two 15m steel cored washing lines from Tesco........

I'm thinking dipole for 40m

total outlay.....

£3

let us know how that works out.....
any tests or results would be of interest to me ta

[Martinedwards]

will do, but it's a bit moist at the minute, so it'll have to wait!!

[handyguy2002]

how about parts from and old T.V Antanna, ive read these make good beams,,

[timbo]

A Chomp layed on top of a Milky Way makes an ideal substitute for a Mars Bar .................. oooops - sorry ! meant to post that in the Viz Top Tips forum.

[Mattylad]

Martin, how did the washing line go on?

[ChelseaCat]

I use zippy ties for insulators

I bought a 20 metre washing line with wire inside for a £1 but not tried it yet

Obviously house hold electrical wire for my dipoles which works brilliant

Not a household item but a roach pole vertical antenna

[Martinedwards]

My tesco washing line dipole didn't work great.

to be honest it was (I'm guessing) more the mounting as a stealthy under the eves setup rather than the wire..........

[EMarkM]

My tesco washing line dipole didn't work great.

to be honest it was (I'm guessing) more the mounting as a stealthy under the eves setup rather than the wire..........

What did you do, and what can be done to improve upon it?

[DX-Digger]

My tesco washing line dipole didn't work great.

to be honest it was (I'm guessing) more the mounting as a stealthy under the eves setup rather than the wire..........

What is the diameter of the steel wire? as It has a much higher resistance per metre than copper, so would effect the velocity factor of the antenna so the length would need to be adjusted from the standard dipole length.
Might help shoving an antenna analyser on it and see what you get?

RF in a wire is all about skin effect and if the wire has a higher resistance, then by using a bigger diameter wire lowers the RF resistance. But if the wire in your washing line is thin then it may not radiate efficiently due to losses in the wire, and also would not receive well either!

That is why for antennas they tend to coat the steel wire with a thin copper coating, so you get the strength of the steel inner (less likely to stretch compared to copper) and the low resistance in the skin of the wire, which is where the RF travels. Also the plastic coating will effect the VF of the wire and adding to the fact that its mounted around your house eaves? Try it out in the open somewhere if you can and see how it works then.

I tried to use washing line wire a number of years back and didn't have a great deal of success with it. plus it tended to rust at the feed point and snap, however, I didn't have an antenna analyser to test it with so I gave up.

[Andy]

Cheap kitchen chopping boards. A good source of thick polypropylene which can be shaped/drilled for all sorts of mounts, formers, and brackets.

Yup. I use one as a base on which I've mounted my scanning stuff - antenna switches, pre-amp and filters. I can't stand things flapping about.

[Boomerang]

A roll of speaker wire from your local "Poundshop" I used it to make a dipole for 50MHz and mounted it in my loft.

[Mattylad]

I bought 2x adjustable speaker tripods at a car boot this weekend for £1.50 and if they do not work out for holding a portable aerial setup then they are full of 4' lengths of aluminum tube.
I must be able to use them for something

[kr0ne]

Bargain!

[Maccers]

15 amp electrical connector blocks, strip the plastic back and they make great tensioners for adjusting the length of your dipole just loop the wire back through them and tighten and they are cheap!