.... well, one might look kewl on my tinfoil hat! grin

Regards,
John
"Buck" wrote in message
...

On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 13:15:51 -0400, "Bill Ogden"
wrote:

One ARRL stand (at Dayton) handed out small, black foam balls that are
intended to be stuck on the end of a whip antenna. Stops corona
(maybe --
let us skip that discussion).

I do not normally have a transmitter in my truck, so I stuck the ball
on my
standard truck radio antenna. (It is a 2003 Ford Ranger.) Since
doing this
I have noticed that the antenna almost always vibrates a little --
even
after sitting stopped (engine off) in the garage for many minutes.
The ball
on the top moves at least 1/8 inch; it is easily seen if I focus on
it.

It appears I have a good resonant antenna to sustain this motion for
long
periods, across an almost 3:1 range (the AM broadcast band) and a
bonus VHF
range (the FM broadcast band). I assume that Hooke's law (if I
remembered
the right name for it) applies instead of the
break-from-metal-fatigue-or-metal-work-hardening-law will apply such
that
the antenna does not snap off sometime. Perhaps I should patent this
resonant antenna that is almost frequency independent!

Bill
W2WO



Years ago someone invented something to place on the tops of antennas
that improved their signals considerably. The military allegedly
purchased many of these. They looked like a ball with a tear-drop
shape where the small pointed end fit over the end of the antenna.

Is this that same device or something along it's principal?

thanks
Buck
N4PGW

--
73 for now
Buck
N4PGW