HF Army surplus antenna linked to a Kenwood 480SAT working HF.

SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific has developed a technology that uses the magnetic induction properties of sodium chloride (salt) in sea water to create UHF/VHF/HF antenna.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

23 replies
  1. rejoiceinsanity
    rejoiceinsanity says:

    Why not pump down if your able to use the tube to enclose it, it seems you could use it with a lower power pump and keep recirculating the water. Could use some sort of telecoping tube to adjust the antenna size. Mount it on a small bouy it could collapse into itself making it self contained other than the cable to your radio.

    Reply
  2. baalzebubamerica
    baalzebubamerica says:

    Brilliant!

    I want one!

    I am looking forward to seeing this for sale at the marina or radio shop

    Reply
  3. baalzebubamerica
    baalzebubamerica says:

    @nomel23

    how about using plastic tubing filled with conductive liquid, maybe something better than saltwater, maybe water fortified with some mineral or chemical

    Reply
  4. eyreland
    eyreland says:

    ======================
    Reinventing the wheel I would say.
    ======================

    And you are probably totally right, in this case on the internal material and the interfaces have any (latent) patentability … but in the US the patent laws have gone bizerk so you never know.

    Reply
  5. dtvgmedia
    dtvgmedia says:

    RE: ultraviolet lasers….. Don’t make a conducting path to a storm cloud, ” If you do , make sure your supper well grounded.

    Wouldn’t noise from ionizing / deionizing air molecules be a problem. If not then could ionizing lasers create a path into the ionosphere for global communication?

    Reply
  6. zaidtube2
    zaidtube2 says:

    Great, simplistic, and very useful invention. What prohibits you from going above UHF range. I like the idea of recycling the water. Create one that is Battery-operated.
    Can you create a simple radio that uses the water itself as an antenna. Can you go above UHF range.

    Reply
  7. TheGyroid
    TheGyroid says:

    make it so it creates energy from salt water and charges a battery that can be used to move the pump and charge the radio

    Reply
  8. gmarf1
    gmarf1 says:

    See paper Fayad, H.; Record, P.; Electronics Letters Volume: 42 , Issue: 3
    Digital Object Identifier: 10.1049/el:20063633 Publication Year: 2006 , Page(s): 133 – 134. What is the purpose of the permanent magnet. We found the salt in water ( sea water) only acts as lossy dielectric

    Reply
  9. zs1pvs
    zs1pvs says:

    Hmm – asking for a signal report on a repeater?

    Nice toy and nice implementation, but is this a serious option for a sea going craft? How do you deal with wind? Why not just have a plastic pipe with a variable amount of water in?

    Reply
  10. barnaclebudd
    barnaclebudd says:

    Reminds me of when I was a kid and my older brothers tricked me into peeing on an electric fence.

    Reply
  11. mattcasdorph
    mattcasdorph says:

    so its basically using the water as an antenna and the height of the water being pumped up makes it work as a bigger antenna? I originally got the impression that it was sending signals through the water just by the device sitting in the water considering the water is always connected it would be like one giant antenna, it apparently wouldn’t work like that..

    Reply
  12. mattcasdorph
    mattcasdorph says:

    I have another thought, could a person use a cup of salt water to make a UHF/VHF antenna for a TV?

    Reply
  13. MattDane23
    MattDane23 says:

    I got to meet Mr. Daniel Tam when my engineering class got to take a high security tour of Spawar Pacific. Quite an amazing invention, because I got to put my finger in between the coil so that we could listen to the radio. A very amazing day…

    Reply
  14. TheLastOutpost
    TheLastOutpost says:

    G’day mate, thanks for the upload. Have you ever tried inducing a lamina flow to the water? Or would the field be the same as the flow of water droplets?

    Reply

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