Eddy,
Here are the points I would make for and against zip cord for wire antennas
in general and Beverages in particular. Your mileage (kilmeterage) may vary
according to your needs, circumstances and applications.
1. Zip Cord is great and not so great for wire antennas on these counts.
2. It is very flexible and great conductivity due to being constructed of
multiple tiny copper strands.
3. It is not so great as to strength and cannot be put into long spans with
lots of tension. It is easy to split if you want to make single wire
Beverages.
4. It is IMO not a good value cost wise, as it is one of the more expensive
methods of buying antenna wire.
5. It is great in that it is normally available in 250' rolls at any
hardware store.
6. Critters LIKE all varieties of zip cord insulation. It is most often
soft, chewy, and apparently very much to their palate's desire.
That said in generality, here is my experience with zip cord for 2-wire
Beverages from the technical aspect.
All other things aside, if you compute the impedance of the particular type
of zip cord you are going to use taking into account the size of the
conductor, the spacing between the conductors, and the
dielectric(insulation) used, AND THEN construct your transformers for both
ends to match that impedance to what ever feed line impedance you are going
to use, you will have EXCELLENT results when properly grounded at each end.
There is no 'optimum' distance between the wires. BUT the distance should
remain constant so that the impedance remains constant through out the
antenna's length.
Lots of things to comment on, BUT the generalities are here. The one best
axiom is any Beverage is MUCH better than no Beverage. And the construction
of a Beverage is VERY forgiving. Go for it and learn as you experiment.
Mis dos centavos, de Milt, N5IA
-----Original Message-----
From: Eddy Swynar
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2012 2:08 PM
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Topband: The Idiot's Guide To Bi-Directional Two-Wire
BeverageConstruction...
Good Day All,
I wonder if I might prevail upon any & all with some first-hand real-world
experience as to the "criticalness" (if any) between the two wires running
the length & span of a 2-wire bi-directional Beverage...?
Just how important is a continuos pre-set distance between the wires,
anyway...? And who was it that came up with the necessity of equally-spaced
wire...? And how did they determine the "optimum" distance the wires...?
Would a span of power line cord (a.k.a. "zip cord") do in a pinch...?
Zip cord sure would simplify things greatly for my location here...
As I say, any & all comments from first-hand experience are not only
welcomed, they're solicited, before I plunk down any serious coin for a good
run of lamp cord! Hi Hi
~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ
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Topband reflector - topband@contesting.com
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