DUSTIN, MORE PLASTICS!

INTRODUCTION
a.gif (1209 bytes)

s I have stated before, although we like to present new articles and/or announcements about conventional antennas and related subjects, we also follow with great interest any new concepts that emerge from time to time. However, one of the most difficult tasks here at antenneX is to sort out the new concepts from science reality versus science fiction. When one publishes articles about developments on the “bleeding edge”, we must mainly rely on expert opinions abut viability because it is just not possible to test those new concepts, at least until they reach a stage of maturity that allows testing under clinical conditions to verify the level of potential.

To help us with the tests-only of “expert opinion,” we have a very bright group to circulate information to about some new concept and we can obtain a wide cross-section from their kind feedback. This is because we are fortunate to have a broad spectrum of Ph.Ds in various fields of endeavors, top-notch academics from various Universities, Research Labs, many electrical/mechanical engineers and others with very bright and inquisitive minds. They only have one primary disadvantage—they don't have any "special knowledge" possessed by the inventor and the experts must apply conventional science in their appraisals. We cannot ask more than that without a clear enough explanation from an inventor.

RISKY BUSINESS!
Thus, if and when we are encouraged enough by the experts’ feedback, we may publish information or article about the new concept. One should bear in mind however, that because we publish information, we must rely on the author/inventor to make good and provide the necessary proof on any claims made—or don’t make the claims!

Just because an inventor is "secretive" about some ingredient doesn't automatically mean it doesn't work if that secret were known. Take the classic example of Coca-Cola for instance—it must have been among one of the longest-running secrets about its ingredients. Many chemists must have tried to analyze it no doubt. Things go better with Coke! ....if I recall correctly, one of those early ingredients might make one think things were going better!

I seriously doubt that Coca-Cola would make a good antenna, but is an example of the concerns and paranoia that can exist following a new discovery, and rightfully so. In many cases, it is the process in making the product that contains the "secret." You can obtain a copy of the product, analyze or "reverse engineer" it and yet still not figure it out. I have a first-hand example and story about this.

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE — AN EXAMPLE
Back during my "Corporate days" in the mid-1970s, I was the CFO for a high-tech manufacturing company in New York USA that specialized in microelectronics. One of its products was for the thin-film resistor chip industry. Also, it was the sole supplier for a particular chip used in the guidance system for the new Trident Missile program at the time of its development during the 70s. This company had a process to produce 30,000 thin-film chips on a 3-inch wafer that would contain gold tabs affixed for reliable attachment and electrical contact in the guidance system. To the naked eye, the chips looked like specks of ground pepper once removed from the wafer. This particular manufacturing plant of the company was the only plant in the world that could make such a micro-product and enabled the new Trident missile to be launched from a submarine, travel over 4,000 miles and hit a target within 10 feet. Westinghouse, with all its expert resources tried to duplicate it, but couldn't do it, to the chagrin of the DOD (they were praying for a second source). Why not? Because the "secret" was the manufacturing process!

No doubt there are many "stories" like the one above. Bear that in mind as you read on—but, I am NOT suggesting the product to be discussed is equal to one of those successful process examples out there, but, sometimes, the experts are wrong when only known conventional methods are applied. This is one of the reasons I always keep an open mind and at least listen to new concepts. As the above example depicts, one can look directly at the product and even disect it, but still not figure it out. If we already knew all the answers, I suppose everything would have already been invented!

graduate.jpg (7123 bytes)

A NEW PLASTIC MATERIAL?
Inasmuch as our decision to go to print is based on the honesty of the author/inventor, plus our consideration of expert feedback, that does not mean an endorsement from antenneX. As usual, the “test of time” is the best barometer for that. However, during that interim period of time from concept to the ultimate proof, we believe it is our role to inform those readers who may be interested in new technology and thus, it is the reader who can make up their own minds whether they believe in the potential as claimed.

Now, with that preamble of caveats said, do you remember the funny 1967 movie (20th Century – Hollywood, California USA), “The Graduate” when the star character played by Dustin Hoffman was told at his graduation party the next big thing was “plastics?” Of course plastics have been used for many things and there are many different variations of products containing plastics—how about an antenna?

PLASTENNA
Inventor Tom Aisenbrey says indeed, “can do!” ala his PlasTenna. Victor J. Allgeier of the New York public relations firm, TTC http://www.ttcominc.com/ , has reported such to me. Victor and I have been corresponding for 2-3 years; primarily about the progress of new products being developed in Integral Technologies that Victor’s firm represents. More than 2 years or so ago, he had mentioned the plastenna subject, but was not at liberty to provide useful details.

Within the past week or so, Victor has sent me some fresh information cleared for release by “the legal people.” This information was in regard to an abstract of patent application by Integral Technologies (assignee) and Tom Aisenbrey (inventor), the header of the abstract being iterated as follows:

United States Patent 6,741,221
Aisenbrey May 25, 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Low cost antennas using conductive plastics or conductive composites

Abstract
Low cost antennas formed of conductive loaded resin-based materials. The conductive loaded resin-based materials are resins filled with conductive materials to provide a material which is a conductor rather than an insulator or body. The conductive materials comprise a resin-based structural material loaded with micron conductive powders or micron conductive fibers to provide a composite which is a conductor rather than an insulator. Virtually any antenna fabricated by conventional means such as wire, strip-line, printed circuit boards, or the like can be fabricated using the conductive loaded resin-based materials. The antennas can be formed using methods such as injection molding, overmolding, or extrusion.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventors: Aisenbrey; Thomas A. (Littleton, CO)
Assignee: Integral Technologies, Inc. (Bellingham, WA)
Appl. No.: 075778
Filed: February 14, 2002

If you would like to see more details of the abstract, click here.

Thanks to Wolfgang K. Meister, OE1MWW, for providing the antenna design drawings below from the above abstract. Being that this may be a wire to plastic configuration, connections are of major importance. Without knowing the properties of the "plastenna", we will have to guess at the meanings implied by the drawings.

Nice drawings, but don't really tell us much do they? The objects the wires are attached to could be made of lots of things. Might as well be lumber or bricks. Has inventor Tom made those designs from his new material? That remains to be seen yet.

In all fairness to Tom though, he did file some specifications of his material with the patent application and that link can be found here, thanks to Alois Krischke, DJ0TR. a member of our discussion list and an expert in the field of antennas:
http://www.antennex.com/listarch/2004.05/msg00256.html

You will need to join the antenna discussion list web-based archives for the link to the 2MB file with the specifications, but joining is easy and you can setup your own choice of login here:
http://www.antennex.com/listlogin/weblist.html

MORE FROM THE INVENTOR
Victor has suggested that Tom would be willing to discuss his product through an interview by antenneX. Perhaps we'll do that, but I would want our polymer expert to conduct the interview for certain. Victor also provided a bit more information via recent publications by the inventor. Victor says the info below is from releases by Tom Aisenbrey within the past three months.

The world of plastics takes on a 'better reception'

Metals such as copper and aluminum offer very little design flexibility, and efforts to reduce size, weight and cost have pushed these materials to their limits. Thus in almost every industry, the drive for smaller, less expensive, more user-friendly devices has increased the need for more complex microelectronics.

Currently, the world of base resin molding is defying all boundaries. Thomas Aisenbrey is the inventor of "ElectriPlast," a pelletized proprietary recipe creating a vast family of highly conductive polymers that can be molded into virtually any shape or dimension associated with the range of plastics, rubbers and other polymers. Marketed by Bellingham, Washington-based Integral Technologies (www.itkg.net), ElectriPlast is highly conductive and can produce 3D electrical characteristics - it conducts electricity as if it were metal. Virtually anything made from metal today can now be molded from ElectriPlast.

Aisenbrey, a wunderkind with two US patents approved and 50+ pending, is a regular walking encyclopedia of electronics knowledge. He says, "Plastics and the ability to be able to mold this new array of highly conductive polymers will take on an entirely new meaning as consumers demand smaller, sleeker, lighter weight and higher performance products. There is great demand on behalf of various industries to replace metals with conductive moldable plastics, rubbers and other polymers that the ElectriPlast recipe conforms to."

One prime example of where ElectriPlast may be seen is in what Aisenbrey has termed "PlasTenna." With its tunable radio frequency capabilities, PlasTenna may one day transform wireless networks, satellite communications, pagers and handheld devices such as cellular phones and PDAs. The product will give birth to next level designs by engineers that are plagued with design constraints, which in turn equates with better reception, fewer dropped calls and longer battery life-to name a few advantages. PlasTenna's can also become a molded part of the body, shell or case of the wireless device or phone, eliminating many costly warranty issues associated with breakable protruding antennas and significantly decrease part counts in current production modes.

Other industries ElectriPlast may affect are, radiant heating (PlastiHeater), thermal management (PlastiCooler), lighting illumination circuits (PlastiLight), and electronic shielding (PlastiShield). . . . And that is just the beginning. See: High-Tech Bulletin

THE WHALE HAS SPOUTED
Now that the “whale has spouted”, shall we throw some harpoons? Our experts say yes we should, mainly because the information above is far from adequate in explaining how the basic material described by Tom as ”highly conductive polymers, ElectriPlast” is as conductive or more so than metals.

Tom implies he achieves the conductivity by grinding “something” into a powder which is added to the resin-based recipe and the result is a sort of plastic that conducts electricity like metal. What is that “stuff?” Merely grinding a highly conductive metal into a powder would bring us back to the same metal—wouldn’t it?

If that were explained, then the drawings would be more useful as well and experiments could and would most likely be conducted with excitement. And, if ElectriPlast is more conductive than metals, does that also mean a smaller antenna could be assembled to do the job of its bigger metal version? Tom implies a yes!

I have always said the antenna of the future will most likely look nothing like the antenna of today — if for no other reason, to accommodate the drastic technological evolution necessary to reach the goals for high-performance and low profile. If Tom have made some great breakthrough, bravo, but at the moment there are a lot more skeptics than believers. A bit more info can turn that around. Further, if Integral Technologies desires to feed at the capital-funding trough again, it will be much harder if essential technological disclosures are not made.

SURVIVING SCRUTINY
One of our “experts” in the group has a Ph.D. degree in Polymer Chemistry, headed up a leading company in the field and now does full time work for the US Navy as a consultant/contractor at the Navy Research Labs. The Navy is where there could be a lot of interest for such a polymer as well, but, our expert wants to be convinced first and remains skeptical about the conductive properties for now.

Perhaps Tom will be willing to share more with our experts and explain the better-than-metal process if permitted. Filing a patent is just the beginning and the work really begins for Tom to now convince others he has indeed made a breakthrough. Apparently Integral Technologies believes. So, stay tuned, folks—the "test of time" has commenced!

Source: From the DCC or Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse which is a system of thousands of clients and more than 200 servers collecting and counting checksums related to more than 130 million mail messages per day.

This is only one single source and only taken from a portion of the total emails, but probably indicative of the trend.

AN INVITATION TO CONTRIBUTORS
writing.gif (12363 bytes)

antenneX thrives on the contributions of antenna experimenters, ranging from the informal home shop construction project to the theoretical investigation of basic antenna, feedline, and propagation phenomena. Over the years, we have published articles on the use of new or newly adapted materials, known antennas adapted to new circumstances, modifications of antenna structures, basic explorations of both common and unusual antennas, antenna modeling exercises, design improvements, antenna matching techniques from both a physical and mathematical perspective, evaluations of mini-antennas and their underlying theory of operation, new and patentable designs, propagation tutorials, and.... The list goes on, since no antenna-related topic is irrelevant to the readers of antenneX.

At the same time, antenneX has experienced continuous growth in its readership—for which we are appreciative. However, all readers can help us do even better. How? By submitting an article every now and then based on your current antenna work that may be useful at any level to other readers.

Among the engineering and researching readers, there are undoubtedly a number of unclassified and non-proprietary findings that antenneX readers would like to know. Among the practical antenna designers, there are ideas, tests, and numerous other practical findings to benefit our readers. Antenna builders very likely have some techniques to share with other readers. Besides the regular articles, we always have the home work shop column for shorter practical ideas and we always have the invited news and editorial column for information about new technologies, future advances, lost old but good ideas, and personal views on the good to bad things that are happening in the world of antennas and propagation.

If you are uncertain about whether your ideas merit an article, please feel free to send an outline to the general editor/publishers at submissions@antennex.com . Do not feel that you must be ready to be a regular submitter to write for antenneX, because we welcome the individual contribution as much as monthly articles. As well, do not believe that the slots in each issue are already spoken for—we shall always make room for a worthy article.

The Quad Beam as an Amateur Satellite Antenna
By L.B. Cebik, W4RNL

US amateur satellite operators use a variety of antennas for frequencies just below 146 MHz and in the 435.6-MHz area. Most often, if the operator desires a circularly polarized signal, he uses crossed quadrature-fed Yagis. The 3:1 frequency ratio of the two satellite sub-bands tends to create difficulties in constructing interlaced crossed Yagis. Therefore, most serious satellite operators use widely separated antenna booms. The mechanical issues associated with such a structure, especially when controlled by an elaborate AZ-EL rotator control system, are well known. An alternative to the crossed Yagi is the quadrature-fed quad beam.

The Twisted Loop as an Emergency or Field Day Antenna
By Joel C. Hungerford, KB1EGI

Last month Joel introduced the twisted loop, which was an attempt to raise the loop efficiency by changing the orientation of any point on the loop relative to the point on the opposite end of the diameter through the points. This month Joel continued to prepare the twisted loop for use on 20 meters in the field day contest next month. He says it was invigorating when the measurements led directly to an easy and inexpensive way to make a high-voltage capacitor to tune the loop. The SWR bridge amplifier described last month was constructed, and it drove the bridge to full-scale meter deflection easily.

Yagi-Uda Antenna Design and Optimization: Part I
By Fred M. Griffee, N4FG (EE Retired)

After Yagi and Uda developed the new antenna array design concept, others studied and contributed to the approach. There has been extensive analysis, design, and contribution to the original Yagi-Uda antenna approach since 1926. Fred models the seven-element Yagi-Uda Design using YO7.6 and NEC-Win Plus software. This article is an example of the beginning process of combining YO7.2 and NEC-Win Plus. The Part II examples become more advanced.

Wire and Plate Zagi Elements
By David Jefferies and Dan Handelsman

In the March 2004 issue of antenneX magazine (now in Archive VI article #87), we reported the concept of the Zagi, an antenna made from slow wave structures which has controlled coupling between the elements and which can be made significantly smaller than a standard rod Yagi-Uda antenna.

In the March article it was suggested that the slow wave elements could be made from zig-zagged wires (hence the derivation of the name). Here, we present the co-authors' variant based on a serrated plate element, together with some simulations and measurements of both variants of the structure. The advantage of the plate Zagi reported here, over its wire cousin reported last time, is in the bandwidth of the antenna structure.

Some Methods To Improve Compact Loop Performance: Part II
By Claudio Re, I1RFQ

Recently, on the antenneX antenna discussion list, several contributors expressed interest in learning more about improving the performance of compact loops. This was prompted, in part, by the introduction of some new antenna concepts based on recent articles on the “Cubes Family.”

The most common question seemed to be “What techniques are available to significantly improve the performance of compact loops?” Over the last few years, the author has spent quite a lot of time reviewing this subject from the point of view of the ham radio operator. This article contains some of the results of these studies.

Mini-Sloper for DXing from Tight Quarters
By Arnie Coro, CO2KK
Nuevo Vedado Plaza, Cuidad Habana Cuba

The MN77 antenna was born sometime during the second peak of solar cycle 23 when a local radio amateur visited Arnie's QTH and saw the nice sloper coming down from his East tower at CO2KK. Arnie was asked how short could one make that sloper and still work DX on 40 meters? Find out how Arnie does it in this article!

Well, there you have it, folks—thanks for listening and remember, the reading lamp is always on for you in the reading rooms. If I can be of further help, I'm just a Stone's Throw! away. June 2004 antenneX Online Issue #86
reGARDS, Jack L. Stone, Publisher jack@antennex.com