Painting a whip antenna

[Fury853]

I am working on blacking out some things on my SUV and was thinking about blacking out my Ball mount, spring, and whip antenna! Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do? i thought about spray painting it. But would that work on the stainless steal? also would that affect the signal any?

 

[n5ims]

This has been asked a few times here on RR so instead of rehashing this topic, here are some links to those so you can use their knowledge and experience...

http://forums.radioreference.com/scanner-receiver-antennas/233960-paint-antenna.html
http://forums.radioreference.com/scanner-receiver-antennas/38297-spray-painting-antenna.html
http://forums.radioreference.com/sc...pray-painting-antenna-effect-performance.html
http://forums.radioreference.com/scanner-receiver-antennas/65004-can-you-spray-pain-antenna.html
http://forums.radioreference.com/scanner-receiver-antennas/25552-paint-coatings-antennas.html

Hope one or more of those will completely answer your question as well as others you may not yet have thought to ask.

 

[ridgescan]

"Plasti-dip" or black shrink tubing.

http://www.plastidip.com/

 

[KD0TAZ]

I've used plastidip on a few things. It'll work fine on the ball but I wouldn't recommend it for the whip or spring because the smooth steel surface and constant flexing will cause it to peel off pretty quickly. Heat shrink is a good option for the whip. You can get 4' and 8' lengths from many sites. And just spray paint the spring.

Sent from my Galaxy SII using some Tappity Talkity thing.

 

[gewecke]

I am working on blacking out some things on my SUV and was thinking about blacking out my Ball mount, spring, and whip antenna! Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do? i thought about spray painting it. But would that work on the stainless steal? also would that affect the signal any?

Flat black rustoleum works well for this. :wink:

73,
n9zas

 

[LtDoc]

The only suggestion I'd make is to not paint insulators.
- 'Doc

 

[Fury853]

Some good suggestions! Does anyone have any pictures of your painted antennas?

 

[ridgescan]

Well mine for one already came black and is a scanner antenna so not quite the same as what I think you have.
The Plasti-dip site has rubber products as well that will work on the steel.

 

[jhooten]

If you dip or heat shrink it recheck the tuning when done.

If you want to paint it use this first: Dupli-Color :: Self-Etching Primer

 

[TheSpaceMan]

I once used electrical tape on a 9 foot whip, then just sprayed it with flat black paint. Worked well with no issues.