does antenna width/thickness make a difference?

[trailrider]

i'm curious does the physical size' width or thickness of things like the stinger make a difference?? as an example' take two center load mobil antennas. while the stingers above the load may be the same length' one stinger is considerably thicker than the other. does this make a difference?? one stinger may have a ball at the end while the other does not' does this make any difference?? looking at newer antennas it seems like everyone has their own ideas about things. some will have large open coils that look like round wire while some will have open coils that look like flat wire. just wondering if the physical difference in the size of these things makes any real difference.

 

[The DB]

Yes, a thicker stinger does not need to be quite as long. This depends on the length of the antenna in question and the width in question. With stainless steel stingers at cb frequencies you won't need to worry about this much.


The DB

 

[Shockwave]

Additionally, the thicker antenna will have a wider bandwidth. Meaning it will be able to cover a wider range of frequencies with an acceptable SWR. To see significant change you need a significant increase in diameter. The difference on this band won't really be noticed much and is not worth chasing after.

Many people draw a connection between antenna diameter and power handling capacity. Don't be fooled because this is usually not the case. Your steel whip will not heat up at the base where the most current will be. Most unloaded antennas that fail due to power, begin to arc at the tip of the antenna where the voltage node is.

If you can figure out a way to attach a 1 inch metal ball (hollow works too) on the tip of the steel whip, that alone will drastically increase power handling. No need for fat sticks in this frequency range when the band is so narrow in the first place.

 

[trailrider]

shockwave without knowing it your reply kinda walked right into the reason for my post. I was talking with a freind of mine who works with lots of stainlees steel about the 102" ss whip antenna. so the thought came up about cuttting the standard 3/8x24 end off an antenna' welding it to a 3/8th ss rod and welding a hollow ss ball about the size of a golf ball to the top. so basically you have just a 102" whip only bigger. and since everything runs on the outside on the skin' maybe bigger would be better. we also talked about maybe building one of these out of 1/2" ss tube just for grins.

 

[Beetle]

i'm curious does the physical size' width or thickness of things like the stinger make a difference?? as an example' take two center load mobil antennas. while the stingers above the load may be the same length' one stinger is considerably thicker than the other. does this make a difference?? one stinger may have a ball at the end while the other does not' does this make any difference?? looking at newer antennas it seems like everyone has their own ideas about things. some will have large open coils that look like round wire while some will have open coils that look like flat wire. just wondering if the physical difference in the size of these things makes any real difference.

To level the playing field a bit regarding the difference in "thickness" of two antennas, you have to compare the difference between them with the length of one wavelength at the design frequency. Comparing (for example) a dipole made with #14 wire and another dipole identical to the first one but made with #12 wire, installed exactly like the first one, you aren't going to see much, if any, increased bandwidth. Now, make a third dipole but use 1/2" copper tubing and you might notice several KHz more 2:1 SWR bandwidth. It won't be earth-shattering, though.