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Soldering and Antennas
Owen Duffy wrote: Irv Finkleman wrote in : Is a copper to copper contact always necessary in an antenna or does solder provide the necessary continuity when joining wire? Are you really asking are conductors other than copper (eg solder) are suitable for antennas? I think you know the answer to that. No -- everything will be copper to copper. I note you excluded mechanical integrity, nevertheless... I suggest you not depend solely on solder for retention of wires. One day, your antenna conductors might be called upon to carry high current (eg lightning), and it might be better if the solder didn't just melt and allow the wires to fall apart. There will be no mechanical strain on the wires. They will be connected to a common ring of copper surrounding the base of the connected. In some ways, you might as well just twist the wires together. Some wire nuts come with a water+air exclusing medium (grease), but otherwise they are not a lot different to twisting the wires together except they may introduce another metal (in the case of the ones with a metallic spring inside) to the contact mix. Twisting wires together might be more successfull for power applications where there is sufficient voltage to overcome an oxide layer, for RF receive I would use solder or terminals that apply considerable pressure to the joined wires. This is for a radial system, and I basically operate QRP or in a tough fight might run 50w! I'll will consider a water/air excluding grease if I use wire nuts - thanks for the tip! Remember that oxided wire connections can cause havoc with receivers and transmitters, the non-linear joint causing harmonic generation and mixing. Oh yeah! Been there before! :-) Owen -- -------------------------------------- Visit my HomePage at http://members.shaw.ca/finkirv/index.html Visit my Baby Sofia website at http://members.shaw.ca/finkirv4/index.htm Visit my OLDTIMERS website at http://members.shaw.ca/finkirv5/index.htm -------------------- Irv Finkleman, Grampa/Ex-Navy/Old Fart/Ham Radio VE6BP Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
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