[Antennas] antenna paint follow-up

Mon, 9 Sep 2002 16:00:48 -0700

Hi,
I had recently inquired about paints compatible with antenna radomes,
etc...that is, RF-transparent. Thank you all who responded. I have
followed up on a few leads and following are my findings.
Task is to paint some random brown/green/light blue mottle on a bunch of
those Taco, GI, DB Products - type no radial vertical antennas encased in a
tubular radome. Two reasons: 1) keep the neighbors' curiosity and
annoyance down and 2) not advertise the presence of all the nice valuable
gear within.
Obvious answer is to use a non-metallic/non-carbon based pigment
paint...additional issues: the radome may be actual fiberglass with or
without actual gel coat, ABS plastic with its own pigment, or another
plastic-resin molding I wasn't quite clear on. In any case, whatever paint
is selected must not only be rf-transparent, but compatible with the surface
to be painted...that's the major must...stuff like plastics will dissolve in
some paint applications.
So, back to the solution: the Sherwin Williams tip was a hot one...talked
to the pigment guys at Sherwin Williams and they referred me to the antenna
Stealth Company (guys who do cell phone camo stuff...had a great talk with
one of their Project Manager/Engineer guys...he says Sherwin Williams Polane
(must not use silver or gold because it's metallic) is good, but Karethane
is a bit better in the adhesion category. Now the kicker...these are
ultra-special industrial chemical coatings...they're not even called paint.
I found a single gallon at a local commercial Sherwin Williams
store...65ドル.00 per gallon...minimum store order is 10 gallons single
color...he just happened to have this one gallon...however, it was red, so
not much use for this.
Long and short of it is maybe a national search via this list can scare up a
few suitable gallons, but being a two part catalyst chemical coating, both
of these things are classified hazmat from a UPS or Fedex point of
view...even if we found some, how do we get bits of it to the right guys.
So, at the tiny user level, that's a dead end, for me anyway...there are
apparently some retail sprays and can paints that coincidentally contain
either trace metals or no metals in an effort to meet EPA restrictions...not
sure what they are, though. I was cautioned that just about everything has
a metal of one type or another either for color opacity, temperature
stability, or corrosion resistance...so I guess we're looking for
transparent, unstable, corrosive paint or something. Also a caution
regarding prep and compatibility with retail paints...tend to have high
solvent values even after they're on the surface, so be careful.
Bottom line, I'm still searching...maybe I'll just plant a bunch of white
birches and put the antennas in there.
thanks again-will advise
John Collins
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