m II wrote:

starman wrote:

I use stranded steel clothesline. Very strong and thick enough so that the
senior members of the bird population can see it before they get maimed.

Do you run the steel wire all the way to the radio? If not, how do you
connect the lead wire such as copper to the steel antenna wire without
galvanic corrosion?

It's a temporary setup, So I just used a wire nut (Marrette) filled with
Penetrox, an anti oxidant grease, before it was put on the twisted coax
centre and the steel line. I positioned the closed end upwards, so that it
wouldn't collect rainwater.

A ground wire then runs down to the clamp on water pipe underneath. That's
the only side I have the coax grounded on. Then the coax runs through the
attic and down to the push button switch selector, which feeds the 'radio of
the day'.

A matching transformer didn't seem to make much difference

Someone else might chime in here on this one but if I'm not mistaken using the
coaxial cable in that fashion actually defeats the purpose as it should be
terminated in its characteristic impedance at both ends to be effective.

I seem to recall some effects of capacitance coming into play when used as
you've described, and what happens there is that the coaxial cable is simply
acting as a very long capacitor which might actually act as a block to some
frequencies.

I'll have to look through the literature when I get a chance.

Depending upon how you have it hooked up you might not have noticed any
difference with a matching transformer if it was not attached properly.

dxAce
Michigan
USA