Vintage Radio Antenna: ID?

[Billy T]

Does anybody recognise this radio antenna? In NZ they were common on old houses from the 1920's/30's, the base is ceramic and about 4.5 inches high and the elements are bronze and 9" long. They can still be seen occasionally on old houses that have resisted modernisation.

I've always known them as hedgehog aerials, but that could simply have been what my father called them. Extensive searching on Google has failed to bring up any information or an image, probably for want of the right name. Brush antenna also comes to mind.

I am presuming that they must have been reasonably efficient to supply adequate signal to the radios of the day and I plan to use this one as a signal source for my garage workshop.

Cheers

Billy

[John M0GLN]

I'm not saying it is, but it looks very much like a 'lightning dissipator', they are also used at the masthead of boats, hopefully the attached image will come through.

John

[chipp1968]

They do look the same .
I sure i came across the remains of something like that once , looking outside of a upstairs widow in a terrace of houses like you find in Bath or London ,that are often apartments .cant rememebr where . Presumably its difficult to arrange a decent aeriel in that situation .

[Billy T]

Originally Posted by jcaines

I'm not saying it is, but it looks very much like a 'lightning dissipator'

Thanks John, but it is very definitely a radio aerial, we don't need domestic lightning dissipators etc here in NZ, the trees cop it long before it gets near to radio or TV aerials. These aerials were usually mounted down at gutter level and had a short lead-in to the radio.

They were very common when I was a boy, but that is 50+ years ago and it took me a long time to find one on our local auction site (we don't use Ebay here, there's no need unless you want something that can only be found overseas) but you can get just about anything you want if you keep a search running.

Cheers

Billy

[Billy T]

Okay, I found a sales advert in an old radio catalogue from 1942 and a similar antenna is illustrated therein under the brand name "Mastless". They were sold here for 25-30 years at least so it's surprising that there's no readily accessible data out there. Maybe it was a New Zealand-only innovation?

Cheers

Billy

[kalee99]

Hi all,
A house near where I lived as a child had exactly one of those mounted on the roof guttering with a lead running down too and in through the window frame! This was the 60s and I seem to recall they were not uncommon. My Dad called them "Loo brush", Aerials
Paul.

[Alan Stepney]

I can remember seeing them in the '50's, and always thought they were a cheap substitute for a "real" aerial.

[John Robson]

Never seen one before, but having lived in a old victorian terraced house, I
remember we had odd looking circular fitting near the gutter, but nobody could
remember what it was for. But directly underneath there was a earth spike* in the
garden, which was used for a radio earth.

Do they connect to a coax cable or is it at the end of a random length of wire
attached to the side of the house as I have seen similar spikey items at the top
of various radio antenna, supposed to contol static build up.

* Might still have it someplace as I remember removing it before we moved.

[Billy T]

Originally Posted by John Robson

Do they connect to a coax cable or is it at the end of a random length of wire attached to the side of the house?

It is a plain wire feed in, length determined by the circumstances, and there was usually an earth stake below it for a similar but much shorter ground feed into the house.

On reflection, the aerial fitting at the top of a reasonable length of single wire feeder would add inductance and capacitance as a sort of top-loading. I think that would broaden the antenna bandwidth somewhat.

I'm still curious about the theory and the name! I appreciate your interest and input.

Cheers

Billy

[radiogammon]

They were very common in the 50's and 60's, and indeed may have been used earlier. When I began to take an interest in radio in my early teens, I remember making one, as our neighbour had one just above the guttering on their house. I think we called them a brush antenna. They were an alternative to a long wire where there wasn't room for this, but obviously didn't work as well. I think there was as much signal generated from the vertical wire feeding the radio as from the brush section. Another common antenna at that time was a whip antenna, many of which could be bought cheaply in army surplus stores.

[JHGibson]

The "brush" is useless as an antenna except as an additional foot of conductor. The real antenna was the 40 0r 50 feet of lead-in which makes a decent antenna.
John.

[Billy T]

That sums up the problem. Many of these aerials were sold here over a long period of years and with NZ style houses the lead in would be only 15-20 feet max. Radios were not all that sensitive back then, and certainly not the cheaper models bought by Mr & Mrs Struggler. The 5 valve table gram my parents bought in 1949 cost 44 pounds and that is roughly equivalent to 900 pounds today. That said, I have an example of that very radio on my bench at present (took many years to find one) and it seems quite sensitive but then we have many more stations on air and they may well be more powerful.

Maybe the brush at the end added some top loading to increase the effective antenna length, but technical performance isn't really my concern, I am more interested in what they were called, and whether they were just an antipodean phenomena or if they turned up in other countries. They sold here for 20+ years and production quality was very good for something that was simply a gimmick.

For all that, I really can't see them being much use myself either, but it will look nice on my garage and make a good talking point. History should be preserved and used.

Cheers

Billy

[mikelect]

Originally Posted by Billy T

For all that, I really can't see them being much use myself either

Unless of course you get struck by lightening

Mike

[Billy T]

Highly unlikely at 10-12 feet off the ground. There are many more tempting targets around, including some large trees blocking our views that we'd love to see blown to bits.

Cheers

Billy

[Skywave]

Originally Posted by Billy T

but it will look nice on my garage and make a good talking point

A "good talking point". Hmm. Perhaps it'll load up on 144 MHz. That'll make a good "talking point" - or "talking points" in this case.

Al / Skywave.