I think I read in this newsgroup that a ham in the PNW waxed his dipole
to keep the rain off. I couldn't tell whether it was just a joke?

In an area notorious for lots of rain, do hams in the Northwest really
wax their antennas?

Even when waxed, what is the effect of rain/water on dipole
chararacteristics?

John
AB8WH

On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 21:37:35 -0400, jawod wrote:

In an area notorious for lots of rain, do hams in the Northwest really
wax their antennas?

No, it inhibits moss.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC, Seattle (rain city)

Richard Clark wrote:
On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 21:37:35 -0400, jawod wrote:


In an area notorious for lots of rain, do hams in the Northwest really
wax their antennas?


No, it inhibits moss.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC, Seattle (rain city)
Only on the south side....

Dave WD9BDZ

Richard Clark wrote:
On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 21:37:35 -0400, jawod wrote:

In an area notorious for lots of rain, do hams in the Northwest really
wax their antennas?

No, it inhibits moss.

Only QRPers need it for that -- the big guns just burn the moss off.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 22:19:02 -0500, "David G. Nagel"
wrote:

Richard Clark wrote:
On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 21:37:35 -0400, jawod wrote:


In an area notorious for lots of rain, do hams in the Northwest really
wax their antennas?


No, it inhibits moss.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC, Seattle (rain city)
Only on the south side....

Hi Dave,

I suspect you haven't really seen moss then. In the Hoh and Soleduc
valleys near here, they get 200 inches of rain each year. You can't
see the trees because of the moss. North, South, East, or West sides.
You can't see the ground because of moss, you can't see river bottoms
because of moss. There is only one color - moss. Mt. Baker (yet
another volcano) nearby sets records for snowfall. Seven years ago it
stood at 95 feet of snow. Mt. Rainier (yet another volcano) averages
60 feet of snow each year. When you fly into Seattle, you can see at
least 4 or 5 volcanoes (there are more).

Seattle isn't "that" rainy though, we only had 27 straight days of
rain a while ago, got one day of sunshine and then went right back to
rain. This last month I put in rain barrels and found I had to empty
200 gallons of water every other week and that was only for soft
showers, what we call "spitting." Only tourists use windshield wipers
in this.

So, there's two problems with waxing antennas (sounds like what girls
would do). You'd spend too much time in the rain to no purpose
because the rain would wash it off anyway.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC
caveat: we only boast this to frighten Californians away - no one who
lives here is really impressed by the rain.

Some one wrote:
caveat: we only boast this to frighten Californians away - no one who
lives here is really impressed by the rain.

Californians have a new scheme. We get Nevada license plates before moving
to Wash out ton
Query: where you from stranger?
Answer: Nevada Podner (;-)

--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !

For trapped horizontal antennas, be sure to orient the drain holes downward
Neglected to do this on my first tribander installation
Traps wud fill with water, VSWR outta sight
Had to wait for a week for them to dry out (;-)

--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC
caveat: we only boast this to frighten Californians away - no one who
lives here is really impressed by the rain.

It works. We Californians are allergic to long periods of unremitting
rain. It washes off the thin veneer of civilization.
73,
Tom Donaly, KA6RUH

For those old enough to remember a colorful character, Jim Ricks, W9TO. He
wrote a paper in the CFO news letter on the effect of different colored
insulation on antenna wire. unfortunately I don'thave a copy so I don't
know the best color.

73, Steve, K9DCI.

There actually WAS such an article.


"jawod" wrote in message
...
I think I read in this newsgroup that a ham in the PNW waxed his dipole
to keep the rain off. I couldn't tell whether it was just a joke?

In an area notorious for lots of rain, do hams in the Northwest really
wax their antennas?

Even when waxed, what is the effect of rain/water on dipole
chararacteristics?

John
AB8WH