Painting antenna

[Hardhead]

I want to make my white fiberglass antenna harder to see.
Can I paint it without hurting the performance?

 

[airplane1]

Yes you can, just dont use metalic paint.
AP

 

[Hardhead]

Yes you can, just dont use metalic paint.
AP

Thanks.

I had in mind the new water based paint.

 

[C2]

I've heard that flat black is not good either.

 

[airplane1]

Flat black should be OK, I know someone who used it and no change in the SWRs or performance. but then again this is only one case. others might have had troubles.

AP

 

[Hamin' X]

Antenna Painting Instructions From Celwave

Rich

 

[Beetle]

Great information, Rich. That's a keeper.

I'm probably the one who posted about flat black. That stuff can be nasty, because it contains a lot of free carbon, which is very conductive electrically.

 

[C2]

Yep, your the one, even though it sounds suspicious, I won't doubt you.

I'm going to go home and measure the resistance of a charcoal briquet.

 

[Hardhead]

Yep, your the one, even though it sounds suspicious, I won't doubt you.

I'm going to go home and measure the resistance of a charcoal briquet.

I just did. It is .00001 OHMS.

 

[C2]

It might not be Free carbon. :?:

 

[Beetle]

"Free Carbon??" Have you PRICED charcoal lately??

By "free" I meant that the elemental (non-crystalline) allotrope of carbon was free and not bound to some other elements to form some non-conductive compound. Carbon dioxide, for example, contains carbon (duh!), but I don't believe it's a good conductor of electricity.