Antenna Camouflage

[Tom Line]

Was thinking about using a Spiderbeam mast in an urban environment.  Little white houses, small yards, big old trees.  Was wondering if a Spiderbeam mast could take a coat of paint, and still be able to extend and fold back together okay.  And what colors of paint, glossy or flat etc, would make it less visible among the little white houses, grey roofs, big green trees, and a blue or grey sky.

Any ideas on using a 36 ft end fed half wave on this type of structure would be appreciated as well.  Am trying from the side to a back tree and back to the house in a funky horizontal V shape now.  Hesistant to lay it directly on the roof to get more height, but concerned the swr would suffer.  Experimentation has been slow due to weather, dragging a ladder about, and the roof it not safe to walk up, although I can reach the peaks with a ladder. 

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[gil]

Hello. I think it will take paint well if you sand it before then clean it with acetone. Why 36ft? You can't make a half-wave on any ham band with 36ft... Do you mean an end-fed random wire?
Watch this video:

Gil.

[Tom Line]

My mistake.
EFHW-4010 63 feet, not 36.

My NanoNVA shows it resonant sweet spots at 40, 20, 15, and U.S. CB range. 
Would like to try it at 10 meters on a local net, but it's SWR starts going up again above the CB range. With a 100 watt rig, it would probably work okay locally.

One of the local 10 meter net guys lives in the house the Doren Brothers lived in. They made radios before WWI, then again in the 1920's. He's got an iron antenna tower built in like 1916 in the back yard.

http://w8ajt.hamarc.net/index.php/hamarc-hamilton-history.html
http://w8ajt.hamarc.net/images/PDF-files/doronbrosradiostation.pdf
http://w8ajt.hamarc.net/images/PDF-files/radiophotosection1.pdf
http://w8ajt.hamarc.net/images/PDF-files/radiophotosection2.pdf


I want to visit the Voice of America Museum which pretty close next to the old WLW transmitter.
They had some crazy big antenna arrays.  People could pick up broadcasts in their gutters, plumbing, and bedsprings.  WLW ran like 500,000 watts out there during the war.  in the 1980's they said the VOA arrays could stall a car engine but who knows.  They fired up the equipment on New Years eve 1999/2000 (it was water cooled with a pond and fountain in the yard) and then turned it off just for fun.  Guy in town helped build the big WLW AM tower out there. After they built it, they had to chop 8 feet off the top so the signal wouldn't overshoot Cleveland. 
http://www.voamuseum.org/the-museum/what-to-see/

i digress...




 

[gil]

You can probably just lower your power on 10m, which doesn't need much to skip very far...

Gil.