Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

A friend of mine planted a bamboo shoot in his side yard, now it is
taking over his and his neighbors yards. Told me to cut down all I
want. Had planned to use it for bean poles and plant supports, then
it occurred to me: quads, moxons, spiderwebs -- this stuff is really
strong and stiff. Some canes are 12-16 feet long.

Anybody have experience with bamboo, especially used as semi-permanent
end supports for dipoles and inverted vs?

TNX
Paul KB1GEJ

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

wrote in message
...
A friend of mine planted a bamboo shoot in his side yard, now it is
taking over his and his neighbors yards. Told me to cut down all I
want. Had planned to use it for bean poles and plant supports, then
it occurred to me: quads, moxons, spiderwebs -- this stuff is really
strong and stiff. Some canes are 12-16 feet long.

Anybody have experience with bamboo, especially used as semi-permanent
end supports for dipoles and inverted vs?

TNX
Paul KB1GEJ


How long did it take to grow to 12 - 16 feet long? That would be great to
use on a hex beam. How flexible is the bamboo?

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On Apr 9, 1:25*pm, Roy Lewallen wrote:
wrote:
A friend of mine planted a bamboo shoot in his side yard, now it is
taking over his and his neighbors yards. *Told me to cut down all I
want. *Had planned to use it for bean poles and plant supports, then
it occurred to me: *quads, moxons, spiderwebs -- this stuff is really
strong and stiff. * Some canes are 12-16 feet long.

Anybody have experience with bamboo, especially used as semi-permanent
end supports for dipoles and inverted vs?

TNX
Paul KB1GEJ

Bamboo used to be very commonly used for quad spreaders. I think the
practice was to put spar varnish on them to make them last. I'll bet you
could get some tips from an old Handbook, say '70s and earlier.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Ive built a few antennas using bamboo including a 5/8th CB antenna
that was up for at least 10 years. All did not do so well. Painting
before the wood had a chance to thoroughly cure was a problem as a
matter of fact it was worse than not painting them at all.

Jimmie

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On Apr 9, 11:19*am, "Eternal September Newsgroups"
wrote:
wrote in message

...

A friend of mine planted a bamboo shoot in his side yard, now it is
taking over his and his neighbors yards. *Told me to cut down all I
want. *Had planned to use it for bean poles and plant supports, then
it occurred to me: *quads, moxons, spiderwebs -- this stuff is really
strong and stiff. * Some canes are 12-16 feet long.

Anybody have experience with bamboo, especially used as semi-permanent
end supports for dipoles and inverted vs?

TNX
Paul KB1GEJ

How long did it take to grow to 12 - 16 feet long? *That would be great to
use on a hex beam. *How flexible is the bamboo?

Dunno how long it took to grow, but I'm told you can see growth in a
day's time. Bamboo is some kind of giant grass and comes in hundreds
of varieties. It is fairly stiff for the thickness and weight.

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On Apr 9, 1:25*pm, Roy Lewallen wrote:
wrote:
A friend of mine planted a bamboo shoot in his side yard, now it is
taking over his and his neighbors yards. *Told me to cut down all I
want. *Had planned to use it for bean poles and plant supports, then
it occurred to me: *quads, moxons, spiderwebs -- this stuff is really
strong and stiff. * Some canes are 12-16 feet long.

Anybody have experience with bamboo, especially used as semi-permanent
end supports for dipoles and inverted vs?

TNX
Paul KB1GEJ

Bamboo used to be very commonly used for quad spreaders. I think the
practice was to put spar varnish on them to make them last. I'll bet you
could get some tips from an old Handbook, say '70s and earlier.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Yeah, I was thinking about a 17-15-12-10 quad, or maybe a Moxon. I'm
too fickle about antennae to worry about them rotting! :-)

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On Apr 9, 9:41*am, " wrote:
A friend of mine planted a bamboo shoot in his side yard, now it is
taking over his and his neighbors yards. *Told me to cut down all I
want. *Had planned to use it for bean poles and plant supports, then
it occurred to me: *quads, moxons, spiderwebs -- this stuff is really
strong and stiff. * Some canes are 12-16 feet long.

Anybody have experience with bamboo, especially used as semi-permanent
end supports for dipoles and inverted vs?

TNX
Paul KB1GEJ

Bamboo is making a resurgence. Not only might you find ideas in older
books, but newer ones as well. ARRL's 2008 "Simple and Fun Antennas
for Hams" details the use of bamboo for a wire antenna. On page 16 of
Chapter five, the author recommends using "vinyl electrical tape to
secure the wire to bamboo to make antenna elements."

In that article they are using it as a mast in an inverted-L wire
antenna. I could imagine using bamboo as spreaders for a folded
dipole, or as supports for a yagi or loop and just attaching wire to
the bamboo to create elements. Using a saw to create a notch in the
end of the bamboo would make it great for running wire across the
ends.

I wonder what the maximum support length for a piece of bamboo would
be? I would also be interested to see if someone knows of a way to
jigsaw the pieces properly and maybe use hose clamps to create
sections longer than 12 feet.

KC9PBU

Works Cited
Hutchinson, Chuck, and Dean Straw. Simple and Fun Antennas for Hams.
N.p.: The
American Radio Relay League, Inc, 2008. Print.

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

wrote in message
...
A friend of mine planted a bamboo shoot in his side yard, now it is
taking over his and his neighbors yards. Told me to cut down all I
want. Had planned to use it for bean poles and plant supports, then
it occurred to me: quads, moxons, spiderwebs -- this stuff is really
strong and stiff. Some canes are 12-16 feet long.

Anybody have experience with bamboo, especially used as semi-permanent
end supports for dipoles and inverted vs?

TNX
Paul KB1GEJ
-
Yep. Years ago CQ magazine had an article about a $4 2 element 15 meter
beam made from bamboo. Of course, bamboo fishing poles were about $0.25
each back then. The boom was made from 2 1x2 wood screwed together, and
there were 6 foot long 1x2 boards at each end of the boom for element
supports.

Aluminum foil was laid out on the ground and the pole was placed on top and
wrapped with the foil. Electrical tape wraps between bamboo joints kept it
in place. Electrical connections were via hose clamps on the butt ends of
the bamboo poles.

The elements were mounted on the boom/cross supports via screw-in supports
intended for routing 300 ohm tv cable. Open the eye of the support, and pop
out the cable centering insulator, screw it into the boom end supports, put
the element in place and crimp down the eye on the element.

Works great, and doesn't look too bad. However, it may not pass the
neighborhood popularity test.

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On Apr 10, 10:10*am, kc9pbu wrote:



I would also be interested to see if someone knows of a way to
jigsaw the pieces properly and maybe use hose clamps to create
sections longer than 12 feet.

My thought exactly. Maybe some kind of scarf joint or other and hose
clamps. How about multiple (3?) canes with butt/scarf joints
staggered along the length? Dowels maybe?

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On Apr 10, 10:10*am, kc9pbu wrote:
On Apr 9, 9:41*am, " wrote:

A friend of mine planted a bamboo shoot in his side yard, now it is
taking over his and his neighbors yards. *Told me to cut down all I
want. *Had planned to use it for bean poles and plant supports, then
it occurred to me: *quads, moxons, spiderwebs -- this stuff is really
strong and stiff. * Some canes are 12-16 feet long.

Anybody have experience with bamboo, especially used as semi-permanent
end supports for dipoles and inverted vs?

TNX
Paul KB1GEJ

Bamboo is making a resurgence. Not only might you find ideas in older
books, but newer ones as well. ARRL's 2008 "Simple and Fun Antennas
for Hams" details the use of bamboo for a wire antenna. On page 16 of
Chapter five, the author recommends using "vinyl electrical tape to
secure the wire to bamboo to make antenna elements."

In that article they are using it as a mast in an inverted-L wire
antenna. I could imagine using bamboo as spreaders for a folded
dipole, or as supports for a yagi or loop and just attaching wire to
the bamboo to create elements. Using a saw to create a notch in the
end of the bamboo would make it great for running wire across the
ends.

I wonder what the maximum support length for a piece of bamboo would
be? I would also be interested to see if someone knows of a way to
jigsaw the pieces properly and maybe use hose clamps to create
sections longer than 12 feet.

KC9PBU

Works Cited
Hutchinson, Chuck, and Dean Straw. Simple and Fun Antennas for Hams.
N.p.: The
* * *American Radio Relay League, Inc, 2008. Print.

http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_MY_P_F...lding_hy17.jpg

Jimmie