[Milsurplus] [Boatanchors] Coils and the winding thereof

[David Stinson]

>On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 2:19 PM, Carl<km1h at jeremy.mv.com> wrote:
>> I dont think Id use that material for any transmitting due to dielectric
>> losses.

I respectfully differ on a couple of grounds.
Is the material you describe really "lossy?"
In order for any "lossy-ness" to matter much, you'd 
have to saturate the "lossy" elements in the material,
and there would need to be a lot of them.
What are those elements, and will they saturate at 10 watts?
This sounds alot like the material many coils are 
wound upon: varnish-saturated paper.  Basicly,
wood pulp and soy-based ink.  What's in varnish?
I don't know, but it's on a lot of coils.
Is there carbon-black in the ink?  
That could matter some, but how much?
I guess the varnish matters, because we have "Q-Dope."
You could use "Q-Dope," but I'm not conviced
that material wasn't produced under the same
priciple as "SWR Juice" and the stuff you paint on
audio transistors to "enrich the sound stage."

And even if they are "lossey," why care?  
In the end, you're going to get your 10 watts out 
and never notice if the coil form gets a degree warmer
than the rest of the rig.  You're not after a
feat of engineering efficency; you're after an 
authentic 1930s "Po-Boy Ingenuity" rig.
Your mentor built his rig with these coils.
How many contacts did he make with it?
I'm betting he made a bunch, and that the coils
never burned-up.  He didn't care if he lost
1.2176 watts in the coils.  He had fun.

My two-cents, ;-)
73 Dave S.