[Antennas] Antenna power handling

[Matt Maguire]

That's a good question. I would consider:
- voltage: as power increases, so does the voltage. What sort of insulators are you using? What is their breakdown voltage? What sort of voltages are you expecting at various points? Keep in mind that VSWR will affect this.

- current: what sort of currents are you expecting? What is the resistivity and cross-sectional area of your conductors? Will the I2R losses be significant? How hot will the conductors get (if you know the I2R power, the ambient temperature, and the thermal "conductivity" of amy surrounding insulation and air, it should be possible to calculate a value for this).

An antenna modeling software such as NEC may be useful in calculating the electrical characteristics of the antenna, and a bit of research should turn up some of the other values required. I winder if anyone on the list has experience with this type of calculation. I'll be monitoring with interest as well.

Cheers,
Matt VK2ACL

On 09/05/2011, at 8:00 AM, Elliott Olson <n0ukf at wiktel.com> wrote:

> Hello Antennas,
> 
> My brother asked me the other day if there's any way to determine how
> much power a homebuilt antenna can handle. I wouldn't dare trying
> 1000W on a twinlead j-pole, but would it be ok with 30-100W? What
> would a plain dipole or wire loop handle (at any specific wire gauge)?
> How about antennas built from salvaged TV antenna parts?
> 
> -- 
> Best regards,
> Elliott   N0UKF                      mailto:n0ukf at wiktel.com
> www.qsl.net/n0ukf/
> 
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