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

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

In article
,
" wrote:

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?

FYI, bamboo is a weed and grows like all heck!

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

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
Bamboo is a good resource. On the other end of the scale I recall that
Post made a good Slide Rule in the 1950's from Bamboo. I still prefer
my Dietzgen though.

I wonder if it could be cultivated in North Carolina?
John Ferrell W8CCW

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:00:45 -0400, John Ferrell
wrote:

I wonder if it could be cultivated in North Carolina?

Hi John,

More's the problem of getting rid of it if it becomes a nuisance.

It probably will if you pick the wrong specie. Bamboo propagates
(imagine, talking about plants and still being "on topic") through
the roots and those roots quickly propagate far and wide. You either
have to put in deep root barriers, or have neighbors that like a
living fence (which might be another problem through CCRs). Bamboo
generally likes wet (read soggy) soil.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

"John Ferrell" wrote in message
...


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
Bamboo is a good resource. On the other end of the scale I recall that
Post made a good Slide Rule in the 1950's from Bamboo. I still prefer
my Dietzgen though.

Another Dietzgen head? Probably drink chardonnay also snort Post is the
only way to go :)
heh heh
--Wayne

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

"John Ferrell" wrote in message
...


I wonder if it could be cultivated in North Carolina?
John Ferrell W8CCW

I don't know about cultivated, but in the mid part of NC it will grow like
the weed it is. If planted, you may have trouble getting rid of it.

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On Apr 11, 12:58*pm, "Ralph Mowery"
wrote:
"John Ferrell" wrote in message

...



I wonder if it could be cultivated in North Carolina?
John Ferrell W8CCW

I don't know about cultivated, but in the mid part of NC it will grow like
the weed it is. *If planted, you may have trouble getting rid of it.

might crowd out the kudzu ;^)

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:16:25 -0700, "Wayne"
wrote:


Jimmie
Bamboo is a good resource. On the other end of the scale I recall that
Post made a good Slide Rule in the 1950's from Bamboo. I still prefer
my Dietzgen though.

Another Dietzgen head? Probably drink chardonnay also snort Post is the
only way to go :)
heh heh
--Wayne

K&E, then later a 5" circular Pickett for use at the bench.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:52:32 -0700, Richard Clark
wrote:

On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:00:45 -0400, John Ferrell
wrote:

I wonder if it could be cultivated in North Carolina?

Hi John,

More's the problem of getting rid of it if it becomes a nuisance.

It probably will if you pick the wrong specie. Bamboo propagates
(imagine, talking about plants and still being "on topic") through
the roots and those roots quickly propagate far and wide.

There are two major types of bamboo. Richard's description matches the
running type. The clumping type is not highly invasive and its spread
is easy to control.

You either
have to put in deep root barriers, or have neighbors that like a
living fence (which might be another problem through CCRs). Bamboo
generally likes wet (read soggy) soil.


According to the Maryland Cooperative Extension Service
- quote -
Bamboo grows best in a fertile, well-drained soil rich in organic
matter.
- end quote -

Half inch diameter schedule 40 PVC tubing might be a better choice for
a framework than bamboo canes. Through the years I have built several
multiband VK-parasols using PVC tubing. The Oct 1984 issue of 73
descibes the VK-parasol and provides the appropriate formulas.

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

In article ,
John Ferrell wrote:

Bamboo is a good resource. On the other end of the scale I recall that
Post made a good Slide Rule in the 1950's from Bamboo. I still prefer
my Dietzgen though.

Yes, those were good rules... although they were actually manufactured
by Hemmi in Japan, and imported and sold here in the U.S. by Post.
The Post Versalog 1460 was one of the best (and best-known) of these
high-end 10" rules.

Dietzgen tended to use mahogany, although they did have a bamboo
version of their high-end "microglide" 1734 rule. The Dietzgen rules
were also very nice... if I recall correctly my good high-school
log-log rule was a Dietzgen.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On Apr 11, 1:05*pm, " wrote:
On Apr 11, 12:58*pm, "Ralph Mowery"
wrote:

"John Ferrell" wrote in message

.. .

I wonder if it could be cultivated in North Carolina?
John Ferrell W8CCW

I don't know about cultivated, but in the mid part of NC it will grow like
the weed it is. *If planted, you may have trouble getting rid of it.

might crowd out the kudzu ;^)

I always thought that if I got really POed at someone I would plant
kudzu and bamboo in their yard.

Jimmie

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On 4/11/2010 12:32 PM, Richard Clark wrote:
On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:16:25 -0700,
wrote:


Jimmie
Bamboo is a good resource. On the other end of the scale I recall that
Post made a good Slide Rule in the 1950's from Bamboo. I still prefer
my Dietzgen though.

Another Dietzgen head? Probably drink chardonnay alsosnort Post is the
only way to go :)
heh heh
--Wayne

K&E, then later a 5" circular Pickett for use at the bench.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

I compromised with one of each (K&E and Post) and an HP-45.

tom
K0TAR

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:32:50 -0700, Richard Clark
wrote:

K&E, then later a 5" circular Pickett for use at the bench.
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Agreed. K&E was the best. Part of my collection:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/slide-rule/slides/slide-rule.html
The yellow slide rule is an aluminum Pickett and Echel "Synchro
Scale". The lower K&E is mahogany laminate.

I never really liked the bamboo or mahogany slide rules. I don't
recall the problem, but when I eventually tried an all plastic K&E, I
declared it the winner. I also couldn't get use to the circular
variety, mostly because it didn't fit in my pocket.

http://www.sliderule.ca

I've never built a quad antenna, but my uninformed and never humble
opinion is that fiberglass rod or tubing looks like the best:
http://www.mgs4u.com/fiberglass-cubical-quad-spreaders.htm
http://www.mgs4u.com/fiberglass-tube-rod.htm
However, if the bamboo is free, then it's a very suitable 2nd best.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

Jeff Liebermann wrote:


I never really liked the bamboo or mahogany slide rules.

I heard they worked really well for log functions.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -

Bamboo as antenna parts and supports
 

On Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:44:28 -0400, Michael Coslo
wrote:

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
I never really liked the bamboo or mahogany slide rules.

I heard they worked really well for log functions.

Yes, and if you plant them in the ground, they grow square roots.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS