Gold plating antenna elements?
 

Hi Gang

Since the radiation of an antenna is done primarily on the surface of
the elements (or wire) would gold plating the elements increase the
efficiency of the antenna in any way?

Gold sounds expensive, but if thin enough, one ounce of gold could
plate an entire football field. Brass corrods, nickel is usually used
as the first plating before another metal like gold is plated over
that. If the cost for gold over the cost of brass is only about 1
buck per foot of element length, making cost not relavent to the
question. Would a gold plated antenna work better than aluminum or
nickel plated?

TTUL
Gary

Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr. wrote:
Hi Gang

Since the radiation of an antenna is done primarily on the surface of
the elements (or wire) would gold plating the elements increase the
efficiency of the antenna in any way?

Gold sounds expensive, but if thin enough, one ounce of gold could
plate an entire football field. Brass corrods, nickel is usually used
as the first plating before another metal like gold is plated over
that. If the cost for gold over the cost of brass is only about 1
buck per foot of element length, making cost not relavent to the
question. Would a gold plated antenna work better than aluminum or
nickel plated?

TTUL
Gary

Why don't you download the demo version of eznec, www.eznec.com/, model
an antenna with gold, copper, aluminum, etc. and see for yourself how
much difference it makes?

--
Jim Pennino

Remove -spam-sux to reply.

On 16 Apr 2004 11:07:12 EDT, am (Gary V.
Deutschmann, Sr.) wrote:
Since the radiation of an antenna is done primarily on the surface of
the elements (or wire) would gold plating the elements increase the
efficiency of the antenna in any way?

Of Course - you knew that anyway. How much? More than a dB? No.
Less than a dB? Very much less.

-Unless-

Gold sounds expensive, but if thin enough, one ounce of gold could
plate an entire football field.

I know you didn't really have this in mind, but putting your gold into
System loss pays back far more than trying to raise the efficiency of
the radiator from 99.89% to 99.90%

Gold plate your lawn and you could easily recover 1dB in a DX lobe.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

"Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr." wrote:

Hi Gang

Since the radiation of an antenna is done primarily on the surface of
the elements (or wire) would gold plating the elements increase the
efficiency of the antenna in any way?

Gold sounds expensive, but if thin enough, one ounce of gold could
plate an entire football field. Brass corrods, nickel is usually used
as the first plating before another metal like gold is plated over
that. If the cost for gold over the cost of brass is only about 1
buck per foot of element length, making cost not relavent to the
question. Would a gold plated antenna work better than aluminum or
nickel plated?

TTUL
Gary

The only real downside would be security! :-)
--
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Beating it with diet and exercise!
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada

I've seen real-life cases with high-Q microstrip structures where gold
plating actually caused a significant lowering of efficiency. As you
point out, nickel is used as a barrier metal to prevent alloying of the
gold with the underlying copper. If the gold isn't at least several skin
depths thick, significant current flows in the nickel. Nickel is a
particularly poor RF conductor, very much worse than copper, because the
skin depth in nickel is decreased dramatically by its ferromagnetic
permeability. So, if you're able to calculate skin depth, and know what
you're doing, and are willing to use quite a bit of gold (particularly
necessary at HF and below) you can achieve efficiency with gold plating
that's pretty much indistinguishable from that of copper. If you don't
know what you're doing, it is possible to substantially degrade the
efficiency by gold plating. I'm sure somebody could be conned into
buying one, though.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr. wrote:

Hi Gang

Since the radiation of an antenna is done primarily on the surface of
the elements (or wire) would gold plating the elements increase the
efficiency of the antenna in any way?

Gold sounds expensive, but if thin enough, one ounce of gold could
plate an entire football field. Brass corrods, nickel is usually used
as the first plating before another metal like gold is plated over
that. If the cost for gold over the cost of brass is only about 1
buck per foot of element length, making cost not relavent to the
question. Would a gold plated antenna work better than aluminum or
nickel plated?

TTUL
Gary

Hi Roy;
It's worse than that: Copper will diffuse throught the gold and pile up on
the surface.
I showed that with an Auger microprobe at Motorola decades ago.
So to go to a gold surface, nickel is mandatory, then a thick gold coating;
Too expensive!
It's not like the switch from aluminum to copper, which is a 2x resistivity
improvement.
You just can't beat plain old copper.
73
H.
NQ5H

"Roy Lewallen" wrote in message
...
I've seen real-life cases with high-Q microstrip structures where gold
plating actually caused a significant lowering of efficiency. As you
point out, nickel is used as a barrier metal to prevent alloying of the
gold with the underlying copper. If the gold isn't at least several skin
depths thick, significant current flows in the nickel. Nickel is a
particularly poor RF conductor, very much worse than copper, because the
skin depth in nickel is decreased dramatically by its ferromagnetic
permeability. So, if you're able to calculate skin depth, and know what
you're doing, and are willing to use quite a bit of gold (particularly
necessary at HF and below) you can achieve efficiency with gold plating
that's pretty much indistinguishable from that of copper. If you don't
know what you're doing, it is possible to substantially degrade the
efficiency by gold plating. I'm sure somebody could be conned into
buying one, though.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr. wrote:

Hi Gang

Since the radiation of an antenna is done primarily on the surface of
the elements (or wire) would gold plating the elements increase the
efficiency of the antenna in any way?

Gold sounds expensive, but if thin enough, one ounce of gold could
plate an entire football field. Brass corrods, nickel is usually used
as the first plating before another metal like gold is plated over
that. If the cost for gold over the cost of brass is only about 1
buck per foot of element length, making cost not relavent to the
question. Would a gold plated antenna work better than aluminum or
nickel plated?

TTUL
Gary

silver is a better conductor than gold, but will tarnish very easily, might
now be a good idea for what you are intending

just my two cents


"H. Adam Stevens, NQ5H" wrote in message
...
Hi Roy;
It's worse than that: Copper will diffuse throught the gold and pile up on
the surface.
I showed that with an Auger microprobe at Motorola decades ago.
So to go to a gold surface, nickel is mandatory, then a thick gold
coating;
Too expensive!
It's not like the switch from aluminum to copper, which is a 2x
resistivity
improvement.
You just can't beat plain old copper.
73
H.
NQ5H

"Roy Lewallen" wrote in message
...
I've seen real-life cases with high-Q microstrip structures where gold
plating actually caused a significant lowering of efficiency. As you
point out, nickel is used as a barrier metal to prevent alloying of the
gold with the underlying copper. If the gold isn't at least several skin
depths thick, significant current flows in the nickel. Nickel is a
particularly poor RF conductor, very much worse than copper, because the
skin depth in nickel is decreased dramatically by its ferromagnetic
permeability. So, if you're able to calculate skin depth, and know what
you're doing, and are willing to use quite a bit of gold (particularly
necessary at HF and below) you can achieve efficiency with gold plating
that's pretty much indistinguishable from that of copper. If you don't
know what you're doing, it is possible to substantially degrade the
efficiency by gold plating. I'm sure somebody could be conned into
buying one, though.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr. wrote:

Hi Gang

Since the radiation of an antenna is done primarily on the surface of
the elements (or wire) would gold plating the elements increase the
efficiency of the antenna in any way?

Gold sounds expensive, but if thin enough, one ounce of gold could
plate an entire football field. Brass corrods, nickel is usually used
as the first plating before another metal like gold is plated over
that. If the cost for gold over the cost of brass is only about 1
buck per foot of element length, making cost not relavent to the
question. Would a gold plated antenna work better than aluminum or
nickel plated?

TTUL
Gary

Nickel can also be the source of IM.

Anyway, isn't Gold's conductivity really low?

--
Steve N, K,9;d, c. i My email has no u's.

"Roy Lewallen" wrote in message
...
I've seen real-life cases with high-Q microstrip structures where gold
plating actually caused a significant lowering of efficiency. As you
point out, nickel is used as a barrier metal to prevent alloying of the
gold with the underlying copper. If the gold isn't at least several skin
depths thick, significant current flows in the nickel. Nickel is a
particularly poor RF conductor, very much worse than copper, because the
skin depth in nickel is decreased dramatically by its ferromagnetic
permeability. So, if you're able to calculate skin depth, and know what
you're doing, and are willing to use quite a bit of gold (particularly
necessary at HF and below) you can achieve efficiency with gold plating
that's pretty much indistinguishable from that of copper. If you don't
know what you're doing, it is possible to substantially degrade the
efficiency by gold plating. I'm sure somebody could be conned into
buying one, though.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr. wrote:

Hi Gang

Since the radiation of an antenna is done primarily on the surface of
the elements (or wire) would gold plating the elements increase the
efficiency of the antenna in any way?

Gold sounds expensive, but if thin enough, one ounce of gold could
plate an entire football field. Brass corrods, nickel is usually used
as the first plating before another metal like gold is plated over
that. If the cost for gold over the cost of brass is only about 1
buck per foot of element length, making cost not relavent to the
question. Would a gold plated antenna work better than aluminum or
nickel plated?

TTUL
Gary

Steve Nosko wrote:

Nickel can also be the source of IM.

Anyway, isn't Gold's conductivity really low?


Relative Conductivities:

Copper 1.00
Aluminum 0.61
Gold 0.706
Nickel 0.198

Now what is IM??

Deacon Dave, W1MCE

"S" wrote in message
et...
silver is a better conductor than gold, but will tarnish very easily,
might
now be a good idea for what you are intending

I thought that silver oxide was a decent conductor, which is why it is
sometimes used as a plateing material.

jim
N8EE