[R-390] Copper clad/copperweld ant. wire

[Craig C. Heaton]

Dan,

Your mileage will vary due to location/QTH. I've lived in dry climates with
little or no winds to speak of. Problem there was air pollution which would
eat the copper. Then our desert rust would take care of the steel in a year
or two.

At another home, the Ohio Valley, we had all four seasons with air
pollution. Copper coated wire lasted one year and I had to start patching
the skywire.

Now living in the Pacific Northwest, southern end of the Willamette Valley,
and I'm back to using solid copper #14 AWG for dipoles or any color
insulated stranded #14 from a big box hardware store for antennas with a
bend. Lots of wind and rain here on this side of the Cascade Mt range.

Craig,

-----Original Message-----
From: r-390-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:r-390-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Dan Merz
Sent: Sunday, November 19, 2006 9:25 AM
To: r-390 at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [R-390] Copper clad/copperweld ant. wire


Hi,  I'm homing in on using #18 copper clad steel wire for my new 390 wire
antenna to achieve a long span with small sag low on the roof.  Does anyone
know if the genuine "copperweld" wire is worth the extra cost,  seemingly
about 4 times as much,   as some other 30% (conductivity?) copper-clad
varieties available as antenna wire for less money.  The two sources I've
identified are Wireman and Davis RF.  It seems that the proprietary
copperweld has been around forever but cladding steel wire with copper
should not be rocket science.  It would be nice to know if the cheaper stuff
would hold up for a while though.  It may not take much of a coating to
achieve 30% conductivity and I'm wondering whether anyone has had the
cheaper stuff up for a while and knows whether it's worth putting up.  Our
climate is very dry here in eastern WA so corrosion won't be rampant.   Dan.


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