Being involved in amateur radio for almost 30 years and building a lot of VHF / UHF antennas over the years I'm calling shinanigans on this one. I would like to be proven wrong but does the quote below sound as if it was written by an advertising company or a qualified RF engineer?
But Chamtech's spray-on antenna is a real product with some impressive claims. It can be sprayed on almost any surface, even trees and orange barrels. It doesn't suck up power. It works in a mysterious nanotech way.
Anyone can make claims but making claims isn't the same as a well documented test report.
I'll beleive it when some creadable papers are released.
Norm
That statement was made by Amanda Kooser, a young feature writer for CNET and not something put forth by ChamTech or its CEO Anthony Sutera. In the same article Ms. Kooser also made the ridiculous remark that, "If all these claims bear out, then I can see everybody wanting to get their hands on a fresh can full of antenna. My only question is where in the grocery store it will be stocked: with the spray cheese or with the gold food paint?"
It is hardly fair to judge this company or its product on dumb quotes from third parties. The linked Wall Street Journal article was written by a more qualified journalist and was one reason I included it. Still, I think Norm is absolutely right in wanting to see some credible documentation about this technology.
There's nothing new about spray-on conductive metal coatings.
Nickel based spray-on coatings have been used for decades to spray or paint on plastic housings to STOP radio signals passing through. It's cheaper and lighter than using a metal housing.
Suddenly labelling the can as conductive metal that can be applied in pattern that acts as an aerial is hardly a breakthrough.
It is true that spray-on metallic coatings have been around for quite some time. In fact, here is an article from a 2001 issue of Signal Magazine titled, "
Spray-on Antennas Make Their Mark". The difference seems to be that the article refers to stenciling nickel or silver spray paint onto surfaces in more traditional antenna configurations and patterns, whereas the ChamTech product is demonstrated being sprayed randomly onto trees and other objects. If their product really does work as claimed it seems to be more a breakthrough in materials science than antenna design, although that would likely come into play as well.
I don't think anyone can offer any comment on this material unless they take the time to watch and listen carefully to the actual statements made by Mr. Sutera in his 11 and a half minute presentation. He states more than once that this stuff keeps surprising their team in exceeding its design goals and expectations and has
potential applications they were not anticipating when they started, such as more efficient motor windings and transmission lines. He states, "Like I've said, we didn't plan on this working as well as it did and we're very happy we came up with a formulation that works very effectively". The guy hardly comes across as a Billy Mays type of promoter and it is important to consider that his remarks were presented at an ideas conference not a trade show.
