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Painting the copper wire??

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Robert Lonn

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Jan 3, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/3/99
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Question. To help my new Carolina Windom antenna blend in, I want to
paint it light green (Tree Color) like my mast. I would not think that
painting the copper wire would have any affect on it's performance, but
I thought I would ask the question anyway ..Thanks Robert WA6PHN

Reg Edwards

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Jan 3, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/3/99
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None metalic, paint, enamel, varnish, laquer, etc, will not affect
electrical performance.

Try changing colour, light green to dark green, every few feet for a
real camouflage effect. Include some brown.
--
Reg.

Robert Lonn <rl...@home.com> wrote in article
<368EE76C...@home.com>...

George J. Molnar

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Jan 3, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/3/99
to Robert Lonn
Go for it. As long as you're not transmitting while you paint <g>. The
wire will turn greenish after a while anyway, if it's bare copper.
Neither effect will hurt the antenna. Keep paint off the insulators to
ensure that they don't provide a weakly conductive path, which could
affect your performance.

Robert Lonn wrote:
>
> Question. To help my new Carolina Windom antenna blend in, I want to
> paint it light green (Tree Color) like my mast. I would not think that
> painting the copper wire would have any affect on it's performance, but
> I thought I would ask the question anyway ..Thanks Robert WA6PHN

--
George J. Molnar (KF2T)
Lebanon, New Hampshire
http://George.Molnar.com
Instant Messenger: G Molnar

AMDX

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Jan 3, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/3/99
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Camouflage antenna wire, now there is a niche market!

Mike

Reg Edwards <G4fgq...@btinternet.com> wrote in article
<01be375b$13a848e0$f33bac3e@default>...

Don

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Jan 3, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/3/99
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I have to add my $.02. I agree the paint wont hurt anything, but here is
one thing I did a few years ago that I regretted. I didnt want the wire
to corrode (I know it dont matter), so I heavily coated it with
polyurethane varnish by running it through a plastic can filled with the
stuff. It worked great, but the wire was stranded, and it was impossible
to remove the varnish to get a good solder joint when working on it
later. If its stranded wire, I would use something that wouldnt soak
in-between the strands. Spray paint probably would be best, but maybe a
little wastefull.

Don

Patricia Gibbons

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Jan 3, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/3/99
to AMDX
Actually, many of the wire antennas I've made were
from standard "THHN" Plastic-insulated, stranded
wire that is available as a standard item from
hardware stores. There are various shades of
the green plastic insulation available and it does
a good job of concealing the wire in the trees
and protecting the wire from the weather.

I've had one dipole antenna up in the air for
12 years now and the plastic insulation is
still intact. Many types of plastic insulation
used on commercially available electrical wire
are both solvent and U/V resistant..

Trish
--

Patricia E. Gibbons
Acting Chief Communications Technician
City of San Jose - ITD/communications
.......................................
My Public Key is available at:
<http://pgp5.ai.mit.edu/pks-commands.html>
Key ID: 0xEDECB44F
This key is RSA, NOT Diffie-Hellman !!

MailfrmPA

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Jan 3, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/3/99
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Leave that copper wire up for awhile, and it'll turn green all by itself.

KØMB

Jason Beens

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Jan 6, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/6/99
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Paint is no problem for the antenna. Though you might consider painting the
tree copper...

Jason
Robert Lonn wrote in message <368EE76C...@home.com>...

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