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Old September 14th 06, 10:07 PM posted to rec.radio.scanner
mikeFNB mikeFNB is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 42
Default simple dipole for newbie - copper, alum, or galv steel pipe?

was of them all
if its inside make a dipole out of coax.

however.
i'd use the ally meself, you wont get a better sig with copper it would be
wasted and weather badly
CSA does not really play much of a role in RX only aerials

mike

"Paul Monaghan" wrote in message
...
Hi folks, new here.

I have been in need of a weather radio, but when shopping for one this
week it seemed such a waste to receive only 7 frequencies when I could
be receiving thousands. So I ended up with a scanner, just like that.

Wow! Instant hobby! Big mistake! I'm a serial compulsive, so now it's
time to start making antennas...

The scanner is one of those closeout RS Pro-2052s. With the stock
antenna I can receive the local police at around 39 and some
frequencies in the 100s, around 125 and 150, including civilian air.
Maybe more, but I'll concentrate on these for now.

Would like to build a simple half-wave dipole to start with. In my
garage I have a roll of 10ga solid copper, some solid aluminum wire
maybe twice as thick (don't know what it is, is left over from a
satellite TV system), and some galvanized 1-inch steel pipe.

Antenna would be mounted inside a detached garage so weather/weight
are not significant factors.

Reading the archives I can't tell whether to go with the copper
because it is a better conductor than the others, with the aluminum
because it is thicker than the copper, or with the galv pipe because
it is much thicker than the copper though somewhat lossy.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thank you,
Paul