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rain gutter antenna
- Thread starter Moleculo
- Start date
Mole',
Almost anything will work as an antenna. Maybe not exactly very well, but sometimes it can be suprizing. Usually, if you can hear well with what ever it is, you can also be heard, but maybe not so well. Big differences between what can be used for a receiving antenna and a transmitting antenna, but that's mainly due to what receivers and transmitters 'like' to see, sort of.
I used to take the radio to work, had a 24 hour work shift and it helped to 'kill time'. The work location was next door to a railroad depo, and having lots of 'extra' time I hooked the rails up as an antenna once. Talking to one guy in town wasn't exactly a big suprize, sort of, but talking to people a couple of states away was! It also set off a crossing guard on the RR so didn't do it more than once. Certainly not saying it's something everyone should try, but then again, if you can, why not? (Just don't get caught, and don't say I told you to!)
- 'Doc
Almost anything will work as an antenna. Maybe not exactly very well, but sometimes it can be suprizing. Usually, if you can hear well with what ever it is, you can also be heard, but maybe not so well. Big differences between what can be used for a receiving antenna and a transmitting antenna, but that's mainly due to what receivers and transmitters 'like' to see, sort of.
I used to take the radio to work, had a 24 hour work shift and it helped to 'kill time'. The work location was next door to a railroad depo, and having lots of 'extra' time I hooked the rails up as an antenna once. Talking to one guy in town wasn't exactly a big suprize, sort of, but talking to people a couple of states away was! It also set off a crossing guard on the RR so didn't do it more than once. Certainly not saying it's something everyone should try, but then again, if you can, why not? (Just don't get caught, and don't say I told you to!)
- 'Doc
Hey 'Doc, that sound like a real good CB story to me. I tried to use some old rail iron for a ground plane to a mobile antenna one time and that stuff is so full of something it acted just like a sponge and sucked all of the RF right out of the antenna. The radio would not even talk a few blocks with the antenna hooked to about 10' of that rail line as a ground plane. Have you ever tried to hook a magnet to a rail line? It sure won't stick to that medal, so I don't think rail lines make very good conductors of RF. You can't even get a voltmeter to show continuity on that stuff. If that is so, the how do you think it will conduct RF signals? I know there is a difference in AC and DC current, but is that what caused what I saw? I could be wrong because I’m not up on all this stuff like you are, but I know what I found trying to use it with my radio gear and it did not work worth a hoot. Might just as well stick the antenna end of you coax in the ground as hook it up to RR tracks is what I thought afterwards.
How say you?
How say you?
Marconi,
I have no idea why your railroad track/rail line wouldn't work, or not conduct very well. Most of the stuff I've seen has been steel and acted like any other steel would. Haven't trried putting a magnet on any, socan't say if it would work or not (don't know why not though). When the Union Pacific puts in a 'block' (requires an insulator between sections of rails) they have to really use an insulator, cuz the stuff does conduct DC. If it'll conduct DC theres no reason it shouldn't conduct AC or RF.
If you've still got that section of rail I think I'd hang on to it!
- 'Doc
PS - That story is really true, but was on 80 meters.
I have no idea why your railroad track/rail line wouldn't work, or not conduct very well. Most of the stuff I've seen has been steel and acted like any other steel would. Haven't trried putting a magnet on any, socan't say if it would work or not (don't know why not though). When the Union Pacific puts in a 'block' (requires an insulator between sections of rails) they have to really use an insulator, cuz the stuff does conduct DC. If it'll conduct DC theres no reason it shouldn't conduct AC or RF.
If you've still got that section of rail I think I'd hang on to it!
- 'Doc
PS - That story is really true, but was on 80 meters.
'Chief,
Marconi was refering to his trying to use some RR rails as a groundplane/ground for an antenna, so that 'X' amount of feet didn't apply to that. As for the rails I used, I have no idea what the 'equivalent' length would have been. You can bet I didn't use a meter to check for continuity - LOL. What can I say, it worked. Nobody could have been more amazed than I was...
- 'Doc
Marconi was refering to his trying to use some RR rails as a groundplane/ground for an antenna, so that 'X' amount of feet didn't apply to that. As for the rails I used, I have no idea what the 'equivalent' length would have been. You can bet I didn't use a meter to check for continuity - LOL. What can I say, it worked. Nobody could have been more amazed than I was...
- 'Doc
Railroad tracks are definitely conductive, the tracks around here are bonded together with steel cable.
Eddie, it sounds like you’ve got a giant piece of ferrite lol. Have you tried grinding away some of the surface and taking a ohms reading on clean metal?
Doc, I wonder what would have happened on 160?
Wolf
Eddie, it sounds like you’ve got a giant piece of ferrite lol. Have you tried grinding away some of the surface and taking a ohms reading on clean metal?
Doc, I wonder what would have happened on 160?
Wolf
Train rails are definatley conductive after all they are made of steel.The DC current that triggers the crossing lights flows through the rails.I remember as a kid going down and jamming a piece of wire in between the rails and triggering the crossing lights at the intersection.Normally the train axles make the connection.