[AMRadio] FT102 and HDVL for 160

[Donald Chester]

>What's the name of the epoxy that dries as clear as glass?  I imagine if it 
>was applied properly, it could be made to look a lot like the bars that are 
>use in B&W Coil-stock.

There is a brand called two-ton crystal clear epoxy.  As far as I can tell, 
it is a very good rf dielectric.  I have used it many times to repair these 
coils.  I have also used it to glue plexiglas; it works fairly well, but the 
best solution for plexiglas is acrylic cement.  Plexiglas is brand name for 
arcylic.  The glue looks like model airplane glue, but it is basically 
plexiglas mixed with a solvent.  You can even buy liquid solvent for 
plexiglas, grind up some of the plastic, mix in the solvent, and make your 
own "glue."  The principle of operation is that the glue "welds" the two 
pieces together by dissolving some of the plastic on the pieces to be glued, 
and fusing with the glue.  When the solvent evaporates, the result is one 
solid piece of acrylic.  It is very effective for sandwiching the wire of 
the coil between two strips.

A couple of years ago I read an article in QST about homebrew air core 
coils.  The author rigged up a mould for pouring crystal clear epoxy so that 
when it  hardened it formed insulating strips just like those in the HD 
series coils.  Epoxy insulated coils shoud last for ever.

Don k4kyv