Why purchase a Tarheel Antenna?
From 2001 through today Tarheel antennas has continued to refine and improve upon our original design.
There have been minor and major changes to our design over the years. And there will continue to be improvements to all our products.
Our focus is on dependability, performance and reasonable cost in that order.
Our antennas construction
Inside
The coil stock is constructed of fiberglass. It is the strongest and has the lowest moisture absorption rate you can use for coil stock (even though it is the hardest to work with we know that it gives you a better product.)
The coil wire is the highest quality hard drawn (100% oxygen free) copper.
The drive rod assembly and all associated hardware are 100% Stainless Steel.
Upper & lower anti jam thrust assemblies are inserted for jam free operation.
A Grease pocket in the lower coil drive insert made of silicone bronze does not require any lubrication; however, we still use a synthetic Teflon® lubricant. The bottom coil insert has a grease preserver so the drive assembly never needs lubricant added. The lubricant we use has an operating range from -45° to +450°F.
The Pittman motor is the high torque series, 12VDC, ball bearing, gear reduction drive. This is the best motor Pittman builds in this series. It is EMI & RFI filtered, which provides unheard of (noise free), receive tuning capability.
The thrust bearing in 2001 when we started using the Pittman motor we also added a coil support thrust bearing. This bearing is installed between the coil drive assembly and the motor. This was done to (1) remove all vertical load, (2) remove vibration from the motor, & (3) to prevent any up or down movement of the coil once tuned. This prevent SWR fluctuation once the antenna has been tuned.
The decoupler (contact housing) is manufactured from 6061-T6 aircraft quality aluminum, which also holds the upper thrust bearing just below the contacts. The upper thrust bearing (1) eliminates any horizontal movement of the coil, (2) eliminates horizontal vibration, & (3) prevents any horizontal movement of the coil once tuned. This prevents SWR fluctuation once the antenna is tuned. These two thrust bearings in combination eliminate finger stock replacement.
The finger stock (contacts) used in the decoupler is a custom die cut Beryllium copper high-pressure finger stock. This provides the lowest RF resistance electrically possible.
We have always used a factory installed magnetic encoder so you may use any after- market semi automatic or automatic motorized antenna controller available now or in the future.
Several of the above listed items and design innovations are patent protected.
Outside
The bug shield assembly has custom molded Delron upper and lower caps and a tinted UV protected GE Lexan® tube.
The antenna tube is a custom extruded 6061-T6 aircraft aluminum with an anti rotation rib molded into the extrusion which means no screws to lose or rib to fall off or break off.
The custom extruded aluminum tube gets an acid bath so it is chromemated inside and outside for corrosion protection before any finish is applied. The finish we use power coating system because it provides a high specification coating which is relatively hard, abrasion resistant, and tough.
All hardware used to assemble the antenna inside and outside is Stainless Steel.
All antennas come as a basic kit (we don't just send you an antenna). We provide all parts you need (excluding the mount). You don't need to run all over town to find parts. We try to make the antenna as plug & play as possible.
The control cable provided is factory tested. We use a 4 pin Molex connector. When we first started using it we were skeptical. But after 5 years we are convinced that they are the best, most cost-effective method to make the control connection.
We use a mix 31 ferrite core to decouple the antenna from the DC.
We provide a small custom molded manual control switch, fuse holder, and fuse.
Mounts
All our mounts use unfinished Stainless Steel. After the mounts are built they are glass beaded for a good-looking uniform appearance.
We use unfinished Stainless Steel because it is the only unfinished material with the strength and weather ability to continually provide the critical RF ground. It also provides the best possible RF ground at the most critical part of the antenna system. We don't paint our mounts because paint acts as an insulator.
