[Joeztech]

After a closer look at the unit I found that there is a tear completely through a number of the wire strands embedded in the outer tube. It appears that there are individual wires that circle around the outer cover and are soldered to a long tinned copper foil strip that runs vertically close to the stitched seam in the outer cover. This tinned copper strip is in turn soldered to the black wire at the top. As I straightened the shape of the bent portions of the antenna assembly, the paper cracked every time I flexed it. It appears that the best way to repair this, after I get as much straightening as I can done, will be to reinforce the outer and inner walls using some brown paper similar to that used in brown paper grocery sacks. The fine wires in this outer paper shell are copper and look to be something on the order of n. 28AWG, which is pretty delicate to work with.

Does anyone know if this outer wire grid is supposed to be an electrostatic shield? I remember running into something like this on some Detrola Hotel pay-to-listen radios that also had rotatable antennas to minimize static electrical interference. I don't believe these wires are part of an actual coil, just a shield arrangement, because there does not appear to be any spiral or coiling involved from top to bottom, just curved to fit the oval shape of the outer cover.

Joe