There has been some discussion that Fiberglass whips where prone to lightning strikes since it was easier for a charge to build up on the surface.
It would be nice if there was an inside whip to use with the talking house AM transmitter.
You can use whips indoors. Am I missing something?
I hope you were talking about antennas Carl 🙂
I think an antenna company should copper plate the steel whip, like copperweld, then plate the copper with another metal to resist tarnishing and looking green, would nickel work?
Carl has some interesting inside AM antenna designs. Modern ceilings are about 8 foot high, so an antenna from floor to ceiling would be just right. It would be cool to take an old pole lamp with a spring, maybe just the pole, run a wire along it, and feed it from the base.
I've taped a wire to the ceiling with the transmitter on the floor, to make a straight vertical. It worked better than the antenna wire randomly tossed over things, but still poorly for AM, probably due to the signal being absorbed by the walls and caged in by the electrical wiring surrounding the room. Medium waves need lots of room to stretch out and unfold themselves. More of the signal from my antennas inside follows the ac power lines, not over open areas, the wiring in the house is acting like a long wire receiver antenna and boosting the distance of the signal!
Glad to be seeing AM get some signal here on the boards lately! It's been my feeling that serious part 15 stations would do both bands, and why not it's easy to split an audio signal and feed two transmitters. You can advertise both AM and FM like commercial stations!
Oh ya a real Part 15 operation should do as many bands as possible.
I even do multiple channels per band just to boost the old ego.
And Johny, either kind of whip can be done indoors, sometimes both at the same time.
We had a building where I lived that said 'Instant Whip' on it, just Instant Whip. One of the guys would say, "How would you like an instant whip?" and someone would probably get punched.
I think the perfect station would be all of the methods discussed here, FM decade, AM with an instant 8-10 foot whip, Carrier Current, 13.56 mhz shortwave, which Carl has done here, and does anyone broadcast on long wave, we have a part 15 band on 160-190 that allows 1 watt and 50 foot antennas.
I think a minumum I'd like would be FM and AM, because each type of broadcasting seems to have a different reach capability. A station with a 10 foot instant whip, as I read on someones blog is better for cars, because cars also have vertical whip antennas and are outside too, but as read, signals from 10 foot stations are lowered indoors. Carrier current would reach indoors much better because the signal is on the power lines going to each radio. FM would give your neighbors good stereo sound, so if you were washing your truck, or your neighbors were, they could rock to your tunes on a hot summer day.
I wish carrier current would be possible from a talking fouse AM transmitter. I read that someone put theirs near the breaker about 2 feet away with the wire antenna taped up the wall near it. This caused his signal to reach the whole town. Every time he was near the lines he could hear the signal. It acted like a induction coupler. I was googling talking house and inside range. Makes me wonder about a what would happen if the wire was touching a lamp cord. There may be other ways to cause this effect for better range. Especially with an auto antenna matching type system.
When I step down the porch stairs holding a portable radio in one hand and the other hand on the metal-pipe railing, the signal reception jumps way up.
Because of the reciprical effect, if it works for reception it will work for transmission, it seems that placing an AM transmission antenna near other metal objects, the result might be an increase in range.
Get busy doing experiments.
Im thinking of trying it. I also have a mini frige. Putting the tx near that could cause induction to happen. Hey if we can only fugure the secret. The auto tuning opens doors for indoor AM transmission. Anyone else accidentally or on purpose found this?
Even Devo says Whip It! Whip It Good!