On Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:20:14 +0100, "Mike Kaliski"
wrote:

An antenna made completely of insulating materials would
at least reduce the risk of lightning strikes.

Hi Mike,

There are antennas made of insulating materials, why don't you have
one already? However, no antenna is made "completely" of insulating
material - unless you can replace a gamma feed with fiber optics at
HF. ;-)

Let's say you want to work 30M Evanescent Mode (this is the coupling
of their work). Build yourself a prism of glass (or other, similar
dielectric with n 1.6) with sides of 400M X 400M X 600M. Aim the
long side's face into the sky - if you can move it, that is. Point
your beam into one of the smaller faces. Expect a LOT of attenuation.
If you want more energy going towards DX, you need to make the prism
larger.

If glass is not your cup of tea, it can be replaced with a similar
sized prism of a matrix of metal rods (all roughly resonant). This
does, of course, present a lightning hazard.

As for the "faster than light," Your DX signal will probably arrive
no sooner than it did without the prisms (the "faster than light" only
works with retarding mechanisms). This is all like selling dehydrated
water (Just add water!).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC