THE "UMBRELLA" AERIAL

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 28, 27 January 1928, Page 13

THE "UMBRELLA" AERIAL

USEFUL IN CRAMPED QUARTERS. A Christchurch reader sends the result of experiments with an ‘‘umbrella’’ aerial. ‘This type of aerial is by no means new, but has generally given place to the single-wire flat-top aerial with two poles. Our correspondent points out that for listeners with limited backyard space this type of aerial will give good results. The principle 1s to erect only one pole, but this is to be as high as possible, even 50 or 60 feet . At the top a post office pattern insulator is fixed, and to this are attached four wires, all soldered together. ‘hese wires act as both stays and acrial, and a few feet above the ground an insulator is inserted in each, and just above the insulator a lead-in is taken from one of the wires. Not every listener would care to have the responsibility of a 60-foot pole in cramped quarters, and unless a really good spread can be secured for the stays it is safer to reduce the height to get a safe angle. Poles thirty feet or over in height should have stays half-way up as well as at the top, and over forty feet it is safer to have two. intermediate sets of stays, unless the pole is strong and almost self-support-_ ing. |