I would recommend getting a glass fibre fishing rod and sliding copper
braid over it, then getting some thin glass fibre tape and resin and
taping over the braid. This is how some military vehicle whips are
constructed. You can then paint it if you wish.

Such an antenna would be excellent for my purposes if it is about 23
feet tall, except I need to break it down into three 7 1/2 foot sections
for storage inside an 8 foot PVC tube. I don't know if those long fishing
poles break down as such, do they?

Also, I do recall pricing such long poles in the past and the cost of
such may be approaching the cost of just buying an actual marine HF antenna
such as I wish to copy.


Ed

Ed wrote:
I would recommend getting a glass fibre fishing rod and sliding copper
braid over it, then getting some thin glass fibre tape and resin and
taping over the braid. This is how some military vehicle whips are
constructed. You can then paint it if you wish.


Such an antenna would be excellent for my purposes if it is about 23
feet tall, except I need to break it down into three 7 1/2 foot sections
for storage inside an 8 foot PVC tube. I don't know if those long fishing
poles break down as such, do they?

Also, I do recall pricing such long poles in the past and the cost of
such may be approaching the cost of just buying an actual marine HF antenna
such as I wish to copy.


Ed

Check out Crappie or Panfish poles at a big online source like Cabelas.
You can get a (fairly light duty) collapsible 20 foot pole for $20.
They're Black Widow brand, and collapse to less than 4 feet.

Check out Crappie or Panfish poles at a big online source like
Cabelas.
You can get a (fairly light duty) collapsible 20 foot pole for $20.
They're Black Widow brand, and collapse to less than 4 feet.



Wished I'd found that one when I was searching poles on Cabelas' web
site the other day. As it is, I've got aluminum tubing currently on
order. Will definitely keep this inexpensive pole in mind, though, for the
future or another project.


Ed

In article 96,
Ed wrote:


I would recommend getting a glass fibre fishing rod and sliding copper
braid over it, then getting some thin glass fibre tape and resin and
taping over the braid. This is how some military vehicle whips are
constructed. You can then paint it if you wish.

Such an antenna would be excellent for my purposes if it is about 23
feet tall, except I need to break it down into three 7 1/2 foot sections
for storage inside an 8 foot PVC tube. I don't know if those long fishing
poles break down as such, do they?

Also, I do recall pricing such long poles in the past and the cost of
such may be approaching the cost of just buying an actual marine HF antenna
such as I wish to copy.


Ed

A few things you really need to look at A

Just how efficent do you think your 23Ft Antenna is going to be
on MF/HF?
What kind of RF Ground are you going to use to support this 23Ft
MF/HF Antenna?
You of course realize that ANY Antenna isn't going to do Diddle
Squat if your RF Ground is POOR, no matter how much you spend
or save, building it........

Bruce in alaska
--
add a 2 before @

A few things you really need to look at A

Just how efficent do you think your 23Ft Antenna is going to be
on MF/HF?
What kind of RF Ground are you going to use to support this 23Ft
MF/HF Antenna?
You of course realize that ANY Antenna isn't going to do Diddle
Squat if your RF Ground is POOR, no matter how much you spend
or save, building it........



First of all, you need to realize this is a MOBILE antenna, even if
only intended for operation while parked. Secondly, I have already used
a homebrew 12' tall Texas Bugcatcher type antenna with excellent results.

The antenna is mounted on the back end of a motorhome, and the ground
side of the antenna base is well bonded to the chassis underneath with 2
inch ground strap. So far, such mounting has worked well for me. My
intent is simply to build a newer, somewhat taller antenna for increased
performance.... primarily on 75 and 40M.