Lightweight and stealthy has been my life too. What fiberglass masts?
I have a few of the DK9SQ masts with extensions which I like a lot. I weave
them up through trees so they stick out the top to support very lightweight
antennas, no guys. I've also tried the Spiderbeam pole and the Maxgain.
Are there others?
Jon
On Jul 30, 2013, at 12:12 AM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP wrote:
> James,
>
> When I'm weather sealing baluns, it depends on what the purpose of the balun
> is.
> For use on sturdy masts, I do it like everybody else does, and place
> everything in well sealed plastic enclosures.
> I'm luckier than most guys; I have hundreds of balun enclosures. I have so
> many that I have to sell them! (hi)
>
> But, the real challenge is building lightweight baluns for use with
> lightweight telescoping fiberglass poles.
> The pole is very thin near the top. In order to get maximum useful height
> out of the system, you have to do everything as lightweight as possible.
>
> I try to only use toroids from Ferroxcube, not Amidon.
> The ones from Ferroxcube that I use have an Epoxy coating on the surface,
> which in itself is waterproof.
> If I have to use Amidon (Fair Rite) cores, then they get lots of liquid
> electrical tape coated onto them after they are completed.
>
> I only use Teflon insulated wire, then I work a lot with heat-shrink tubing,
> but a special version with glue inside, so when it shrinks, it really sticks
> in place. Finally, after it is assembled and (very important:) tested as
> "good", I apply a layer of liquid electrical tape over everything except the
> SO-239. The result is a very lightweight but well insulated balun.
>
> These links show some pictures of various baluns I have built:
> .. http://www.dj0ip.de/balun-pictures/ ..
> .. http://www.dj0ip.de/cmc-test/the-baluns/ ..
>
> Some are shown there not yet coated with liquid electrical tape.
> I did that so that people can see what they look like under the black goo.
>
> BTW, when I'm testing new ideas (which often fail - but not always), I don't
> bother with the liquid electrical tape. I just test them by nice wx. That
> way if I have to change something, I can. Once you encapsulate it in this
> gooey stuff, it's difficult to change anything.
>
> The results are, I have built entire aerials which weigh less than one
> pound, including 40 ft. of lightweight coax.
> FINE for portable operations up to about 150w.
> Pictures of these are found under "Off-Center-Fed Antennas" on my web.
>
> When building these baluns, I follow the guidelines Steve has on his web
> page, here:
> http://www.karinya.net/g3txq/chokes/
>
> 73
> Rick, DJ0IP
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Richards
>
>
> Please remind me what you did to weather seal the toroids
> ------------------------- K8JHR -----------------
>
>
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