I plan to use a carbon fibre fishing rod as a stealth antenna at my summer QTH . The rod would just be a mechanical support, while the proper antenna would consist of a copper wire replacing the fishing wire (i.e. it would run on one side of the rod, parallel to it)

I am getting worried by the fact that the carbon fibre rod may dissipate significant power because of the RF current induced in it (the rod would be very close to the radiating wire) and of its non-negligible resistance.

I had occasion to broadly measure the rod DC resistance with an ohm x 1000 ohmeter, at about 4 inches of distance on the rod, and the meter reading was about full scale (low resistance). But the resistance range I am worried about is in the order of a few ohms, so my measurement does not tell much. In any case, reading some articles on carbon fibre on the Internet, I learned that the rod must anyway have a few ohms of resistance, quite a dangerous range.

The real question is: shall I expect that the copper wire will induce RF current on the rod that would cause power dissipation in it? Does anyone have experience with such an arrangement?

Please do not suggest me to use a fiberglass rod instead because, for a given length, it would be much thicker and heavier (too much).

73

Tony I0JX - Rome, Italy