[Antennas] insulated wire for open wire feedline or wire antennas...

[Tom Scott]

Actually, there is a good case to be made that insulated wire is preferable
to bare. (that ought to invite some disagreement!)

Seriously, there was an excellent article in QEX maybe a year ago (I can dig
up a pointer if anyone wants it), that tested the series loss resistance at
frequency of various types of wire. It turns out that the corrosion that
forms on bare wire after a short time causes more loss than good quality
dielectric. What happens apparently is that the skin effect causes the
current to flow in the surface of the wire, which if bare, will quickly
become corroded and copper oxide is much lossier than clean copper, if the
wire has good quality dielectric the wire will stay un-corroded for years.
At least that's what the test results seemed to show.

73

- Tom Scott, Field Applications Engineering
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