Saltwater and Plastic Antenna A new antenna that uses saltwater and plastic has been developed by Lei Xing and her colleagues at the College of Electronic and Information Engineering at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China IEEE Spectrum reports researchers have developed an advanced liquid-based antenna system that relies on a readily available ingredient: saltwater. The saltwater-based antenna that achieves 12 directional beam-steering states and one omnidirectional state. Its circular configuration allows for complete 360-degree beam-steering and works for frequencies between 334 to 488 MHz. The proposed design consists of a circular ground plane, with 13 transparent acrylic tubes that can be filled with (or emptied of) salt water on demand. One tube is located in the center to act as a driven monopole (the radio signal is fed in via a copper disk at the base of the tube). Surrounding it are 12 so-called parasitic monopoles. When only the driven monopole is excited, this creates an omnidirectional signal. But the 12 remaining monopoles, when filled with water, work together to act as reflectors and give the broadcasted signal direction. Read the IEEE article at https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk...water-to-achieve-multiple-beamsteering-states http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2019/september/saltwater-and-plastic-antenna.htm
Oh gosh-- "advanced..."??? Another PRC 're-discovery'.. can someone kindly dig out the salt water antenna press release from the US Navy, oh, 5-8 years ago? IMO this is a giant step backwards in antenna design. Its akin to building a giant telescope mirror from liquid mercury.... 73 Chip W1YW
Let's see...10 years ago.... https://www.technologyreview.com/s/421741/navy-antenna-using-seawater-instead-of-metal/ Now: If someone wants to make a plexiglas tube 'sculpture' that is a 20m vertical, that would be an interesting but VERY EXPENSIVE salt water antenna. You cannot do this with regular water.
Mitsubishi worked on it too (the Navy design) and claims 70% efficiency (2016 article). So, load it with a kilo Watt and watch the water boil. https://www.popularmechanics.com/te...-developed-antenna-seawater-instead-of-metal/
Your metaphor, not mine. The whole premise of the suggested antenna is that it uses a free, found, and ubiquitous substance for the material of the antenna.
No, its your non sequitar. Plexiglas (polycarbonate) is neither free nor ubiquitous. I have no idea what you mean about 'found'. The cost is HIGH. A polycarbonate fat tube for shortened 2M salt water antenna costs about $60; is corrosive, and a mess. Wire costs $0.70 I know. Here's one I did 12 years ago--at least the tube for it. None of this stuff is new or particularly, uniqely useful. Lotsa downsides---and a mess. We are not going back to the days of 'wet' mason jar capacitors...by analogy.
Will a higher concentration of salt make it work better? Why not make watered down salt licks and use them?