[Elecraft] Antenna Wire

[Jim Brown]

We did this on a mountaintop in the middle nowhere, so there 
was no one around to get hurt but us. We tried to use a slow, 
constant tension, and pulled it until it broke. David had done this 
before and showed me what hard drawn copper sounds like 
(rather "springy"), and declared it "good."  There is some 
"backlash" when the wire breaks (but not a lot) so it is a good 
idea to observe reasonable caution when doing this. I would 
advise doing this with two people -- one to drive and one to 
observe. Don't expect a lot of stretch -- 5-10% is enough. And if 
we didn't have David's SUV, I would have just as readily done it 
with my Volvo. 

Jim Brown K9YC

On Wed, 8 Sep 2004 18:03:18 +1200, Paul Saville wrote:

>Thanks for the information Jim. I've had some copper clad up 
for about 2 years and it's still working OK, but time will tell.
>
>I was given a big roll of #8 solid copper a while ago, and
>thought about stretching it with my car, but was worried about
>the mess it would make if the wire broke! Did you put a 
>constant tension on it with the SUV or let it boucne back like a
>rubber band? Might give it a try, but will lock the kids in the
>house first!
>
>73 Paul ZL3IN
>
>> And the cladding disappears after a few years according
>> to what I hear. 
>> 
>> The real deal if you want strength AND good electrical
>> performance is hard drawn copper. 
>> We needed some for W6BX, so I went to Home Depot and
>> bought a 500 ft spool of #8 solid copper (about $50).
>> David, WA6NMF, hooked one end to a power pole, the
>> other to his SUV, and in five minutes we had 10% more
>> hard drawn copper than we bought, and one half wire
>> gauge smaller (8.5?). It is FAR easier to handle than
>> copperweld, it is strong, it won't rust, the copper
>> cladding won't fall off, the resistivity is quite low,
>> you can easilly solder to it, and it is CHEAP!
>> Oh yeah -- figure the weight of copperweld and the
>> weight of hard drawn copper and there isn't a lot of
>> difference. 
>