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Hi all,
This is Ben Brigham, long lost creator of the Sir Frankie Crisp....crisp...crisp... (see "Subregatta 2001" video) How's everyone doing?
I had some down-time recently and started working on new guts for the Crisp. Since I have no idea when this project will conclude I won't make any promises for an article quite yet. (phrased as an apology, reads like a promise)
But maybe someone can help me get two steps closer to that goal. Got two questions; one electrical, one radio, both about how H20 affects them.
1.) Conventional wisdom holds that as long as the water is fresh & clean, there is no risk of shorting a lead-acid (or any ) battery across its leads when the battery is immersed, period. While I assume that wisdom still holds, has anyone tested that theory to see when 'close' becomes too-close? My battery leads are spaced more than 1" apart, so I'm not concerned there. But what about connectors where the spacing is less than 1/4"? Same situation? Does fresh water basically behave like rubber, regardless of distance?
2.) Obviously someone's addressed the proper way of getting a radio antenna out of the WTC and up a mast without difficulty. My old WTC used an electrically-isolated brass nut/bolt through the endcap, and that seems fine but it's a great deal more metal added to that antenna wire. Antennas of specific frequencies are supposed to be of specific lengths, and thus 'more is usually not better' and 'less is certainly not better' when it comes to antenna length. So is there any rule-of-thumb or empirical way of determining optimal antenna length for a given frequency once it's been sent through a bulkhead via brass nut/bolt? Or do submarine applications on surface frequency ranges make it totally not worth worrying about? Just asking this before I commit scissors-to-wire. There is no 'undo' button for that step.
Many thanks! I aim to hit the SF regatta in 2011!!!! Huzzaaaah!!!
peace,
BB
-----------------------------------
This is Ben Brigham, long lost creator of the Sir Frankie Crisp....crisp...crisp... (see "Subregatta 2001" video) How's everyone doing?
I had some down-time recently and started working on new guts for the Crisp. Since I have no idea when this project will conclude I won't make any promises for an article quite yet. (phrased as an apology, reads like a promise)
But maybe someone can help me get two steps closer to that goal. Got two questions; one electrical, one radio, both about how H20 affects them.
1.) Conventional wisdom holds that as long as the water is fresh & clean, there is no risk of shorting a lead-acid (or any ) battery across its leads when the battery is immersed, period. While I assume that wisdom still holds, has anyone tested that theory to see when 'close' becomes too-close? My battery leads are spaced more than 1" apart, so I'm not concerned there. But what about connectors where the spacing is less than 1/4"? Same situation? Does fresh water basically behave like rubber, regardless of distance?
2.) Obviously someone's addressed the proper way of getting a radio antenna out of the WTC and up a mast without difficulty. My old WTC used an electrically-isolated brass nut/bolt through the endcap, and that seems fine but it's a great deal more metal added to that antenna wire. Antennas of specific frequencies are supposed to be of specific lengths, and thus 'more is usually not better' and 'less is certainly not better' when it comes to antenna length. So is there any rule-of-thumb or empirical way of determining optimal antenna length for a given frequency once it's been sent through a bulkhead via brass nut/bolt? Or do submarine applications on surface frequency ranges make it totally not worth worrying about? Just asking this before I commit scissors-to-wire. There is no 'undo' button for that step.
Many thanks! I aim to hit the SF regatta in 2011!!!! Huzzaaaah!!!
peace,
BB
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