Bob wrote:
I was not suggesting using an entire neon sign or vapor lamp as an
antenna. I was pointing out 'the presence of a tiny drop of mercury' is
required for these devices to work. A catalyst perhaps?

Therefore, let's say our antenna was a piece of wire or metal tubing was
inside another non-metallic tube, and a small amount of mercury was also
in the tube. Would the mercury have a desirable effect? Remember, we're
not talking about tremendous amounts of power here. Your typical 4'
fluorescent tube is a 32 to 40 watt device, and there are much lower
output tubes as well. The primary excitation inside the tube is due to
high voltage, not high current.

So, it may not be too far fetched to build a few designs and see what
performance is observed.

Both neon and fluorescent lights work in basically the same way; something
is ionized with high voltage and low pressure and glows.

Neon lights produce light directly from the gas. The color is determined by
the gas. Common gases are neon, argon and krypton.

Fluorescent lights have mercury vapor in them which glows in the
ultraviolet. The inside of the tube is coated with a phosphor which
glows in the visible region when excited by the UV.

Black lights are fluorescent lights without the phosphor.

In either case, the voltage is high and the current is low, meaning the
resistance is high; hardly a good canidate for an antenna element.

Not to mention the small problem that your antenna would contain a
spark gap...

--
Jim Pennino

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