Painted my antenna: reception much worse?

[Cedric]

Hi All,

I have made this antenna. It works OK, i had no problems receiving digitenne signal with it.
Alan Yates' Laboratory - UHF Log-Periodic Array

Then I decided to paint this antenna white. Now the reception of 618MHz is very poor, while before painting i had no problems with it.
I do not know for sure if the paint is to blame.

I have measured the paint using a multimeter, and the DC resistance is >10MOhm

I have used this paint:
Brillux Halfgrund 850
"schnell trocknend rostpassivierent fur aussen und innen"
"Alkydharz-grundierung"

Is it possible paint affects the reception?
Best regards,
Cedric

 

[Fringe Reception]

Cedric,

According to the website you used, that antenna is designed to receive 520-820 mHz, or channels 22-72. However, in the US there are very few remaining stations broadcasting above 698 mHz or channel 51. So, your antenna is not optimized for the current UHF television band.

I am not familiar with the type of paint you used and I don't read German so I can't comment about it. I can say if it was sprayed rather than brushed, its only a couple mils in thickness and it shouldn't affect the antenna significantly.

Jim

 

[Guest]

Hi Jim,

I have re-made the antenna (without paint), and the reception was just as bad. After some trial-and-error I realized my splitter was to blame.
I removed the splitter, and the reception was cristal-clear.

To answer your questions, I have brused the paint, at some places quite thick.
I live in the netherlands, to receive DVB-T (digitenne), one channel is transmitted on 818MHz

Thanks for your effort.
Best regards,
Cedric

 

[Fringe Reception]

Cedric,

Glad to hear you found the problem. :thumb: Speaking of the Netherlands, I grew up listening to RN on my short-wave radio.

Jim

 

[nbound-au]

As long as the paint is non-conductive its effect on reception should be relatively minimal (I cant make this guarantee in every case)