Interesting article. I wonder if it could be utilized to create a improved whip?
Engineers 3D print tiny, intricate antennas https://www.techxplore.com/news/2025-01-3d-tiny-intricate-antennas.amp
KEY EXCERPTS:
..—has developed a new 3D printing/additive manufacturing platform that offers "unparalleled flexibility in antenna design and the capability for rapid printing of intricate antenna structures."..."This technology can be applied to desktop-friendly light-based printers," he said...This latest paper is specific to the antenna application. CPD, Zheng said, is "very uniquely suited for antennas, because nearly all antennas need two components: One is the metal phase, the conductor, and the other is the dielectric phase, which is not conductive— ...Zheng explained that the first application they considered was in antennas.... "There are probably numerous different antenna structures, depending on the application you have in mind," he said. Zheng and Rahmat-Samii next want to explore the full complexity of antenna design achievable with their new 3D printed antenna technology...
."We can achieve a tunable antenna," Zheng says. "And so the question now is, where can that technology help us best?
Without having any experience with 3D printing, it is my impression that 3D printers can only produce small objects and may not be capable of producing something 3-meters in length.
On another antenna related matter, I asked ChatGPT how to make a part15 antenna more efficient, and although some of what it told me applied to half-wave length antennas, it also said that more efficient antennas would result from using copper or aluminum because those metals are most conductive compared to other metals.
While any increase in efficiency using copper or aluminum would be min minuscule, we take every small boost in performance that we can get, a part of the game for us.
I guess you can print an antenna on anything. A 3 meter antenna could be printed in a piece of material or a wall wherever. It could be flexible to roll up and take anywhere.