[Elecraft] DIY Hard-drawn copper wire

[Dauer, Edward]

In a recent post Jim, K9YC, suggested making hard-drawn copper wire for antennas by attaching a few hundred feet of bare copper wire to a tree or telephone pole at one end and to a bumper hitch at the other, then driving away very slowly until it snaps.  That sounded like a very attractive idea - much in the ham tradition.  I wondered, though, whether it could be done using a car without a bumper hitch.  The minimum breaking strength of number 8 hard-drawn copper wire (though it might be closer to number 10 after being stretched) is between 644 and 826 pounds, according to a chart I found on the Internet.  Rather than test it empirically with my 16-year-old SUV (no bumper hitch), I wondered what 700 or 800 pounds of shear force would do to an automobile frame, assuming attachment to a suitable bolt somewhere.  Or would the tree fall over first?

Ted, KN1CBR