[300ohm]

Yeah, if its more than a meter in length for 1/2 inch stuff, a dowel (or a broomstick for 1 inch stuff) etc should be stuck in it and glued with something like polyurethane construction glue to give it stiffness. A thick walled fiberglass tube would be ideal, but theyre hard to find and expensive.

Speaking of plastics, Ive noticed the Chinese plastics getting stiff and brittle a heck of a lot quicker than the plastics from other places, even when used indoors. For example, like in wire coverings. They start supple and soft when new, but quickly stiffen in a few years.

 

[300ohm]

I think I know what happened.

All the melanine that was supposed to go into plastics got diverted into baby formula and pet foods. The Chinese probably figured that since rugrats and pets like to chew on plastic toys anyway, including it in their diet seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

[300ohm]

You can get vynil-color paint at Pep-Boys and other automotive places. I noticed my Lowes is now selling paint for plastic too. Its really more of a dye than a paint, in that it soaks into the plastic a little.

PEX is not UV resistant, it says so on the label, so its best to paint it too.

But that cheap 96 cents a can Walmart spray is very tenacious and lasts a good long time, especially in places where you dont want it to, heh.

 

[300ohm]

Theyre solid rods. I too saw them at Lowes and Wal Mart has bicycle flags about 6 ft long too. I bought 4 ft solid fiberglass rods, 3/8 in diameter, at Tractor Supply (used for electric fencing) for $1.29 each.

Heres a couple of interesting pieces of plastic for about 60 cents each :

The one on the left is a J 1/2 inch pipe hanger available at Home Depot. Dont know if its UV resistant or not, so if used, should probably be painted.

The one on the right is called a rebar chair. I got it at the local cement supply dealer. Its made by the ReBar Stakes Company, they have a website. Its listed as corrosion resistant, but nothing said about UV resistance. It is very strong plastic. The clips fit 1/2 inch pvc, and the distance from the back of the pvc to the flat part is just about right for the reflector to element distances in the GHs.

 

[300ohm]

the white electric fencing rods are uncoated and very durable. they will have glass slivers especially as they weather.

The stuff I bought was light gray electric fencing rods.


Also, green plastic garden stakes made by Woodstream (makers of tackle boxes) are sold at Wal Mart, Lowes and other garden centers. They vary in thickness depending on length. They should be UV resistant, but have bumps.

 

[300ohm]

I found this tube at Ace Hardware Stores today. Its a 5 inch grey plastic ferrule (used for rain gutter installation) made by American Home Products and its overpriced at 12 cents each, heh. It is stiff and should be UV resistant. It also has ridges on the inside, so that when a common 3/8 inch aluminum element is inserted, very little of the plastic is touching the aluminum, yet it holds perfectly. A little glue or pop rivet would make it permanent. This should be a help to a lot of people. I wish I knew about it when I built my colinear rod model, heh.

 

[300ohm]

I have used "Krylon fusion" on coroplast

Ive used the Vynil Color paint sold at Pep Boys and other places for modding computer cases. These plastic paints arent really paints, but rather dyes in that they soak into the plastic a little, hence they can be used even on vynil upholstery. On another note, Ive redone marine vynil seats in a stuff that they used to sell in marine stores, not sure if they still do. Its really like another coating of vynil. The stuff they sell for dipping tool handles in (and electrical tape paint) is similiar.

On the otherhand, that stuff is probably overkill for this purpose. Just look how long the cheap 96 cents a can spray stuff lasts by observing graffitti, heh.

 

[300ohm]

Would a 6 foot tripod-mouted mast made of ABS of PVC be less likely to be struck by lightning than a metal pole?

Yes. You would want to make something like that out of the UV resistant electrical pvc and its also cheaper to boot.

 

[300ohm]

I tried PEX tubing ( used for water supply lines ), purchased from a home center. PEX comes in different variations, some are advertised as UV resistant but you would probably have to look that up on the web.

Yeah, I used that stuff on my first build last year. The PEX tubing sold at Home Depot or Lowes specifically says its not UV resistant, so youll have to paint it for protection. Also the 3/8" ID stuff is a little smaller than the 3/8" typical antenna element, so I had to drill it out a little IIRC.

 

[300ohm]

Yeah, when searching for some plastic or carbon fiber tubes for colinear rod spacers, also think in the other direction if using tubular aluminum.

These old fiberglass tent rods fit into common 3/8 inch antenna tubing very nicely !

 

[300ohm]

but carbon fiber for spacers will conduit elec depending how it is coated but I'm sure everyone know that.

The ones above dont, but then again, maybe they are really just black fiberglass, hard to tell with chinese plastics. I always check with a meter. I guess I should have mentioned those tent poles were from a cheapie 2 or 4 person mountain tent set, heh.

Some makes of brightly colored fiberglass driveway markers will also fit nicely in a common 3/8 inch aluminum antenna tube (especially the split tube ones).

 

[300ohm]

I should have posted this earlier:

Those are black plastic plant containers and trays, available for free from Home Depot or Lowes after they kill the plants that were in them, which they invariably do, heh. They have been outdoors for 13 plus years and are still in fine shape, so they must be pretty UV resistant. Cutting them up should yield some useable plastic antenna pieces.

 

[300ohm]

Ultomato plastic tomato cage

I couldnt find the plastics thread anymore, heh. (EDIT by stampeder: I found it and merged them)

Heres 3 - five foot by a little more than 3/8" pieces of UV resistant plastic rod, and 9 - 10 inch UV resistant plastic clips (that can make up to 18 clips for antenna usage). The clips fit a little loose around a standard 3/8" aluminum antenna rod, so some electrical tape would have to be wrapped around the rod for a tight fit. But the price is right, the Ultimato tomato cage sells for $5.98 in the Wal-Mart garden dept.

As far as holding up tomatos goes, I think I can build a stronger, cheaper cage using 1/2 inch electrical pvc and my clip on sch 40 clip on tees, heh.

They list their website on the package as www.theultomato.com, but I keep getting a timeout error when trying to go there.

 

[300ohm]

I wonder how good the UV protection really is.

On the label it says "Lasts season after season" heh.

Looking at the reviews on the web, it looks like some have been using them for a few years, and have been left outdoors year round in the deep south, where UV rays are much much tougher on plastic. Like here : http://forum.earthbox.com/index.php?topic=1919.0

Heres some additional comments as to where to buy:
"At my ACE Hardware, they're selling them for $9.99. I got mine at Walmart for only $5.98."
"I got mine from Amazon for $5.49 you do have to pay shipping but I cant remember how much that was"
"Got the first one at Home Depot for $5.99 but went back for more and they were $3 each "


Heres some similar fiberglass garden ladders : http://www.gardenersedge.com/

 

[300ohm]

After looking at the Ultomato cages at Home Depots garden center today, I noticed that the label on the Sturdi-Stakes that the cage is made from said "steel reinforced center". Sure enough when I got home, I put a magnet to it and it stuck, heh. So I peeled off an end and sure enough, a 3/8 inch hollow un-seamed steel tube was the core. I should have realized the stake felt too light to be solid plastic. Its still good rod reflector material and answers a lot of questions about its longevity. The bumps on the plastic are there on purpose to have something to grip the string when tieing up tomato or other plants. For reflector use, they wont matter much, but the plastic covering will lower the velocity factor of the reflector. The plastic covering looks to be about 1/64" thick (.5mm), not counting the bumps.
The clips are solid UV resistant plastic though made from the same stuff as the covering, and that was my main point of interest in the thing.

Picture:

 

[300ohm]

For common 3/8 inch antenna tubing, grey UV resistant plastic gutter ferrules, available at ACE Hardware for 15 cents each, or at Home Depot in packs with the nails, work very well. Also fiberglass tent poles slip into the tubing nicely.

 

[300ohm]

Yeah, the aluminum (and galvanized) gutter ferrules used to be the only ones we had here for years too. These plastic ones are somewhat new, probably to cut costs.

 

[300ohm]

... and at a fraction of the cost of lexan, making it a very good choice for my application.

Sounds good to me too ! I used to use 3/8ths inch Lexan on my boat windshields, because at that thickness, it was almost bullet-proof and my friends butt couldnt break it, unlike plexi, heh.

 

[300ohm]

Very good find, and its UV resistant. Browsing around electrical supply stores is a harder than browsing home centers or hardware stores. But I know the electrical supply houses must have a lot of useful antenna building stuff.

 

[300ohm]

was anyone able to get these in Canada

I found them at Ace Hardware here, but their website says:

Principal Subsidiaries: Ace Hardware Canada Limited; National Hardlines Supply.

I also found them at my Home Depot, but you have to buy the nails with them, so that ups the cost a lot. At Ace Hardware, you just buy the ferrules for 15 cents each.