Well, I took the plunge and painted my antenna, a 10 foot long VHF/UHF antenna with a gloss white radome.

I used Krylon Fusion for plastics.  I picked hunter green for two reasons, the color pretty well matches the trees in the background, and it had the least metal content of the usable colors.

The darker color in much less noticable against the trees, and even against the sky when the sun is behind the viewer.  When it is backlit against a very bright sky there is very little change since one is viewing the shadow side of the antenna.

When painting, I kept the coats thin and painted untill the small white "freckles" were just covered.  This kept the paint thin.

Now, when dtiving down the street one will have to know where the antenna is and look for it to see it.

After remounting the antenna, I found on degrtdation in performance and no shift is SWR across the two bands.

Wendell
K4MC

My concern in painting the antenna is to not degrade the performance while making it less noticable to the neighbourhood HOA.

K4MC

I have the need to tone down the visual impact to a 10' tall Comet 300.  I'd like to paint it to match the backgtound (green for trees or blue grey for the sky).  All the paints, even the ones recommended by Comet, Krylon Fusion) have metalic components in them.  Titamium dioxide  or zinc are common ones.  

What advice can anyone pass on from experience to testing.  Thanks
Wendell
K4MC    
reevewe@yahoo.com

Does anyone know of an LCD type display that is clean and quiet as far as HF RFI emmissions?  I now have a Gateway and it is horrible and will be looking to replace it.

Thanks,
Wendell
K4MC

I have a Gateway LDC monitor in the shack next to the IC 765 PIII. The Gateway monitor is terrible for both broadband hash and birdies, both of which emit from the monitor screen area itself. The birdies vary in frequency, depending what is displayed on the monitor. When the image changes on the monitor, you can watch the birdies dance across the display of the 756. I did find a way to eliminate the RFI. I have to shut the bloody computer down!

I just read on the ARRL newsletter (Vol. 27, No. 30, August 1, 2008) that the station NN4SI at the Smithsonian Institution has been shut down.  The article gave is nice history of the station but did not provide any explanation for the shutdown!

Can anyone shed some light on this?


Thanks,
Wendell
K4MC

Icom is not alone is this "rebate" sham. Best Buy is also very good at putting impossible conditions and fine print in their rebate offers.  No matter from whom you expect a "rebate", unless it is in the bottom line at the time of sale, it is just a sales gimmick.  Refer to that famous line from P. T. Barnum.

I enjoy Icom and have several, but will not fall prey to this marketing gimmick, having been burned before.

Wendell
K4MC

Several tips:

1. Use only quality, silver plated PL-259s.  The ones with the bright chrome like finish are near impossible to solder to.  If you are using adaptors for RG-58 or RG-8X and can't get silver plated ones, you can use a fine file to expose the brass under the chrome finish on the barrel.

2. You will need two soldering irons.  First, an iron of around 100 watts is needed to solder the shield braid to the PL-259 (and adaptor, if used).  The iron will provide a lot of heat quickly to do the soldering without overheating the connector body dielectric. Work quickly and only solder one hole, or two if you are fast, then allow it to cool before doing the other two. A gun or smaller iron takes longer, and can overheat, and thus melt, the dielectric.  The second iron, one of a standard size, is used for the center conductor.

One often overlooked source for a 100 watt iron is a stained glass studio or craft shop.


K0BG has a good article on the subject and it can be found at:

http://www.eham.net/articles/5071

or

http://www.k0bg.com/coax.html



Wendell
K4MC

My first mobile HF setup was an IC706MkGII with hamsticks on a 2000 Ford Explorer.  While underway, the fuel pump noise was bad, and was augmented by fuel injector noise.

Then came along my 2004 Explorer (as a used car from my dad).

In the mean time, I picked up an Icom 7000 and installed it.

What a difference from the 2000 model. Ford had done a nice job in reducing the fuel pump RFI.  The injector noise was down too.

Then I discovered the 7000's digital IF noise blanker.
That knocked the remaining noise out and what was S9 on the 2000 Explorer was down to S2-3 with the 2004 model and S-0 with the Icom 7000 with the noise blanker on.  I can now copy weak signals that don't even show on the meter.

Wendell
K4MC