Using a Slinky as a Cheap Antenna for the 80m Band

A slinky is a fun little toy that is essentially a long and loose spring. You can perform tricks with them, but the most iconic use is making them walk down stairs all by themselves. Over on Hackaday we've seen a tutorial that shows how to use a slinky as a good antenna for the 80m (3.5 MHz) band. Using a slinky as an antenna is nothing new to hams, but the original post on imgur shows some pretty clear photos and instructions on how to construct one.

The text written by the original poster on imgur notes that he uses this antenna very successfully with his RTL-SDR in direct sampling mode and this even outperforms his regular shortwave radio. He notes that slinkies aren't weather proof, so some sort of weather proofing spray coating or oil might be useful for a permanent set up.

If you are interested apart from the discussion on Hackaday there is also a comments thread on Reddit where the original poster discusses what he purchased.