I'll miss the older days of those Neon lamps - the ones needing 220K resistance.
- - they fire at about 40 volts,
- - which is easy enough to get (the firing voltage) at the top of a typical 3~4' simple base load or top-load whip
- - the voltage node will make it fire and was a lot less "intrusive" than to use a "separate tap circuit" to obtain and utilize" RF rectification just for the LED lamp buried inside the load.
- - again an issue with how much resistance you needed at the "tap" of the radial you use. Near the base - almost all current, near the top - voltage.
- The difference in transmutation of current to voltage is more extreme in the shorter antennas like three feet to as much a 5 feet long radiator - allowing the use of Gas discharge bulbs like Neon - which fire at 40 volts or so - to even work.
- so to see the base load whip lighting up makes me question if it's really going to work for the typical CB Operator using that antenna with the typical 4-watt radio and the usual setup.
Neon or Fluorescent (mercury type) - Neon is the safer - less reactive and not a poisonous as mercury - and in regards to Gas discharge types. Contributes little in heat losses nor is there a current limit need in the use of them in any USUAL setup - however high voltage arcing like any other event is detrimental to the bulb
Why do I say the LED types may or may not work, it depends on how well the system is going to work in the environment it's used in.
- Parked to a Tree? It may not work at all for the power absorption you have in the braches can prevent the lamp from receiving enough power to light from the signal radiating and absorbing into the shrubbery...
- Next to buildings, unless you're really more than a 1/4 fractional length of distance from an overhang the lamp again may not light or worse your SWR problems would be too great to even make it an effective radiator.
What I'm trying to tell people is
- - if you buy the antenna for the light, you'll miss the point of even using the reason you bought an antenna
- - may not work if you try to use it just for the light in certain conditions and locations,
- - may not work as intended and can damage the radio to the point of needing service because it was not operated in an open area or was purposefully tuned to make the light work - more than to provide a low-SWR matching while in operation,
- - if an amplifier is used you need to provide careful considerations to the above as well as how much power the device can handle
- - power dissipation become more of a concern including heating and the result of melt of the electronics shorting out or otherwise ruining the SWR match of the antenna rendering it useless
The above are just some stuff I had to deal with when troubleshooting one of the more popular conversions of using the Black Lite Fluorescent tubes. They'd tie these up on whips back in the 90's and early 2000's. You could have found these devices in any hardware, Wal-mart or even smaller chain stores - in simple plug in nite-lights - you can remove from the housing simply enough
So to add to this, is not to degrade the antenna - I think it's cool - just to the reader, remember that to expect it to work under any and all conditions you may want to operate it in, you may want to reconsider a more dedicated lighting system. For in, having to produce RF to make the system light can generate interference on channels that may be needed to use or already in use for other on-air traffic- that would compound the problem even further...
If it don't work like you wanted - refer to this post as to what you really should have looked into...
Which if they chose the "amp" route, well, that mess is another can of worms you have yet to locate...