A silly idea?

Today was a beautiful day to get outside and tinker. And what I love to tinker with is radios and antennas. So I flung open the garage/shop door and puttered around here and there. Some years ago I was driving on a local two lane blacktop and came across one of those humongous CB antennas (Predator, is it?) with the really heavy 3/8" tubing and a gigantic 4" loading coil. I picked it up and stuck it up in the rafters of the shop, figuring to do something with it someday. Maybe tune it for 10 or 12 Meters? I took it down and was looking at it and got an idea.

When trucks encounter snowstorms, those open coils are bound to collect ice. I've seen them all caked up, and frozen. Maybe yer amp might melt it off, but, with what that stuff does to your SWR, it might pop something before the amp gets a chance to do it. And its a big risk to radios and finals when your antenna is all caked up that way. So, I had some 4" PVC and some end caps, so I decided to make a cover for the Predator coil to keep the ice OUT. Its really simply to do: just cut a length of 4" PVC to 8", drill two 1/2" holes in the end caps, slide the caps onto each end. Drill a couple of countersunk holes on the sides of the caps, and use a couple of screws to keep the thing together (Optional: Drill a couple of holes in the bottom cap, underside, for extra drainage. And your coil is protected from rain, snow, and ice! And you can then paint the cover to match your truck for a neat looking antenna! (PVC is not generally conductive and won't mess with your antenna). For smaller antennas, just use smaller PVC tubing and caps!

When 10 Meters is hoppin', I'll get it back out and see how it tunes up! It oughta be pretty good, eh?

 

This looks a lot like the one I have, except the upper shaft is much longer before the whip begins.
There ARE ways to brace heavy antennas, tho yours, being in the center wouldn't be amenable to that. If you come off the back or side, you could use thick Lexan to form a "capture" bracket coming off the drip rail. The screwdriver antennas are heavy, too, and MUST be braced. Where they fail, and where mine failed (where the trucker lost it) wasn't in the shaft, but in the stud ferrule. However it HAD broken before because the lower shaft had been welded back. Did a pretty good job of fixing it, too. But you are right; these things are heavy. Where I plan on mounting it to try it out is on a side ball mount at the rear of a van. I will come off the drip rail with a brace just under the coil with a matching "capture" bracket using brass screws and wing nuts to hold it in place. The screwdriver is also side-mounted and uses a brace as well.

I re-dressed the threads in the ferrule, and it *seems* to be OK.

GF