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Old June 10th 10, 10:58 PM posted to rec.radio.shortwave
bpnjensen bpnjensen is offline
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Default Car radio whip antenna question

On Jun 10, 2:27*pm, Gregg wrote:
On Jun 10, 4:01*pm, bpnjensen wrote:





On Jun 10, 12:55*pm, Twitchell wrote:


I've seen some car radio whip antennas that look like they have a wire wrapped
around them. *The wraps are not close but lazily spiral down the length of the
antenna.


Does this help reception? *Is the coil attached somehow to the car or just the
antenna itself?


twitch


My antenna on my minivan is like that.


I think the supporting whip is fiberglas/or some insulating material,
and the wire is the actual electrical element; and in the interest of
saving length and providing strength, they wrap the wire around the
slightly shorter antenna pole. *The wire is then connected to the lead
of the antenna. *It works fine, about as good as a metal whip of
similar length. *Antennas for cars are pretty uncomplicated
critters... :-)


I can't believe I have never seen that before. Wouldn't there be a
chance for eventually the wire to work itself free, is it glued or
clipped to the whip?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Picture a thin pole (the whip) with a very gently coiled wrap of wire,
a turn every inch or so, from top to bottom. Then, the entire thing
is covered with a wrap of something like shrink-wrap to hold it
altogether. Unless the antenna is traumatized, the wire is pretty
much set for life.