On Sun, 5 Jul 2020 02:06:54 -0700 (PDT), Tony James
wrote:
Can I surround the antenna with tinted plastic
I try to ignore one-line questions. They usually don't include enough
information to properly answer the question. What's missing a
1. What are you trying to accomplish? Numbers and specifics are
helpful.
2. What do you have to work with? That includes your abilities,
experience, test equipment, availability of parts, etc.
3. What have you done so far and what happened? Where are you stuck?
Take a small sample of the tinted plastic and put it in a microwave
oven. Cook it for maybe 15 seconds. If it's warm, it's absorbing RF
and probably unsuitable for covering an antenna (radome).
"Tinted Plastic" is not a very good technical description. It would
be helpful if you would provide the type of plastic. You can then
lookup the loss tangent or dissipation factor to determine if the
plastic will work as a radome.
http://www.g3ynh.info/zdocs/comps/part_6.html
Some materials will detune your antenna. At VHF, UHF, and above, that
will have a substantial effect on performance, even if the radome
material does not absorb any RF. Look for tables of velocity factors
or dielectric constants.
https://members.tm.net/lapointe/Plastics.htm
Tinting is a separate problem. Even if the plastic is fairly RF
transparent, the dye or additive used could absorb some RF. The only
way to know for sure is to test a sample of the "tinted plastic".
Mo
https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_are_RF_transparent_materials_you_know
Good luck.
--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060
http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558