Painting Antenna

[fireems3]

Would it harm antenna performance if I painted it?

I'm planning to build a 1/4 wave 2 meter antenna using the SO239, copper wire, and PVC. Would like to paint the entire antenna to help camouflage/disguise it so it's a little less obvious on the house. Thanks

 

[liftedtacoma4x]

I would use a non metallic paint on it.

 

[PrimeNumber]

Yes, non-metallic paint is a plus.

What's the background color? A light grey works well for sky background, flat OD green does well against foliage without looking too "hinky-camo." For the copper wire, the natural patina that'll form in a few weeks is pretty low-key, and there'll be no question about that affecting performance. Almost anything you do that gleaming PVC pipe will be an improvement, and as long as it's non-metallic it is extremely unlikely to affect antenna performance.

 

[iMONITOR]

Here ya go!

Camouflage Paint made with Fusion for Plastic® Technology - | Krylon

 

[majoco]

I went looking for some camo paint but I couldn't see any.....

 

[PrimeNumber]

I went looking for some camo paint but I couldn't see any.....

Were you looking on the ACME invisible paint aisle?

 

[teufler]

Beforfe you paint the antenna, put some tape around the center conductor, so that NO paint connects the center element to the radials. won't matter if you use metallic paint mor not. Once made a mistake, when building a tape measure beam. Painted all the elements gray, so that th yellow tape measure elements didn't show. Big mistake, pretty amtenna but it would not radiate at all.