[R-390] SWL antenna - field telephone wire.

[Barry Williams]

That would be WD-1 wire.

You can also get cheap wire by the spool at farm supply shops. They 
sometimes stock a lot of wire. Some is uninsulated for long runs of 
electric fences.



Barry



> On 8 Nov 2006 at 11:22, Transmaster wrote:
>
>   
>> Now I have a question;  Has anyone out there used field telephone wire
>> for antenna wire? I am looking at this stuff it is cheap. the
>> conductors are some kind of steel.
>>     
>
> Unless the specs have been changed since I was in the Army in 1960, 
> the wire is made up of a certain number of strands of steel and and a 
> certain number of strands of tinned copper. The steel is to give it 
> strength, and the copper is to lower the resistance.
>
> The way we used to determine which of the strands were steel and 
> which were copper when we wanted to make a splice was to strip about 
> an inch of insulation off an end, then brush a finger across the tops of 
> the wires: those that were copper would bend, while the steel ones 
> wouldn't.
>
> We would make our splices with the copper ones, as I remember it. I 
> can't remember what we did with the steel ones. That was 40 years 
> ago.
>
> The copper solders easily, but the steel wires are "difficult".
>
>   
>>  It isn't the easiest stuff to work
>> with but I have seen this stuff in the field that has been in use for
>> decades. You can get this wire in mile long spools for a really cheap
>> price.
>>     
>
> It makes excellent, non-stretching, antenna wire, but is somewhat 
> difficult to work with, as you say.
>
> Ken W7EKB
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