[Milsurplus] Antenna wire

[Bob Camp]

Hi

Why does sliver plated teflon wire get dumped?

This or that design calls for (say) a wiring harness. It has 38 wires in it. Each one is color coded somehow. (No, I didn’t do that design …). Off somebody goes to get enough wire in each of those colors in those gauges to make up the required number of whatever. Call up the “approved vendor”:

(Maybe) then say “We have red, black, and green”. Could be White and black ….

Ok, but I need these 35 other colors.

Minimum order in that color and wire gauge is 5,000 feet. (yes, that’s a real number)

Mumble mumble, go check with the customer. Check around and see what’s what. Eventually somebody signs the paperwork. 

Call back later:

Ok, send me what I need.

Ok, we’ll get it out in 16 weeks ( yikes ….)

Net result is that at the end of the program, there’s 2,000 to 4,000 feet of wire sitting around on spools. Some has really weird color combinations. Much of it looks fairly normal (except it’s not red, black, white or green).

Off it goes to the storage cabinet (wish I had pictures … sorry). Eventually it goes to the scrap heap / recycle outfit. Might well be sold by them for the value of the raw copper. 

Yes it does make nice portable antenna wire. Purple with yellow and red stripes just adds to the appeal. 

Bob

> On Sep 29, 2023, at 12:07 PM, mstangelo at comcast.net wrote:
> 
> Years ago I got reels of silver plated teflon wire a great prices. I guess the military stopped using it because of abrasion of the soft insulation. I prefer stranded because it will not break in windy conditions.
> 
> I do LOTS of portable operation when the weather is warm; a couple of times a week so I designed my antenna systems so that I can set them up or take them down within 15 minutes. The antenna for portable operation have to be light so I use 24 gauge. My antenna and counterpoise wires are terminated with spade disconnect lugs so that I can easily connect the and change lengths. Here is an example of the disconnect:
> 
> <https://www.lowes.com/pd/Gardner-Bender-16-14-AWG-Vinyl-Insulated-Female-Disconnect-0-25-Tab-15PK/5005437281>
> 
> I place heat shrink tubing over the ends so that the wire does not break in the wind.
> 
> For home installation I use 16 gauge or larger. 
> 
> I don't know if this surplus wire is available these days put pick it up if you find it.
> 
> Mike N2MS
> 
> 
>> On 09/29/2023 11:45 AM EDT Facility 406 <facility_406 at bruteforcedevelopment.com> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>>> posted the same question on another list but was told to use 
>>>> copperweld (I hate that stuff) or to buy some stainless steel wire 
>>>> (even worse).
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