Does paint affect a Yagi?
Displaying 1-4 of 4
| Jan 17th 2013, 02:40 | |
KO0YTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
I put up a small Cushcraft Yagi, and it does what I wanted. I'd like to spray paint it with a Rustoleum green to make it less conspicuous among the trees. Would that affect its performance? I would not paint at the feed point, of course, just the mount and elements. |
| Jan 17th 2013, 14:09 | |
W1VTSuper Moderator Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
I modeled a 10M dipole to see what effect a typical layer of paint would have--it moved the resonant frequency by just 10kHz, a negligible amount. EZNEC will let you model a dielectric coating on your wires. http://ipnpr.jpl.nasa.gov/progress_report/42-138/138F.pdf It is hard to get good measurement data at HF, so looked at the microwave data and decided that a dielectric constant of 10 would be a very, very conservative guess. The paint thickness is typically around 1 mil, according to some web searches. It is a good idea to paint the feed point to protect it from the elements. Zack Lau W1VT ARRL Senior Lab Engineer |
| Jan 17th 2013, 15:10 | |
KO0YTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
Thanks; I did not know EZNEC would do that. I've covered the feed point with that sticky coax seal, and we live in a dry climate, so that should be OK. I should have mentioned that the antenna is a 3 element 2 meter Yagi. |
| Jan 25th 2013, 22:26 | |
N4AABTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
Asking your local paint store would help to. I know some paints couldn't be used on antennas when I was in the US Navy years ago. They would block transmissions. |
Displaying 1-4 of 4
