Hal Kennedy wrote:
> I'm with Jim on going smaller rather than larger. My radials are all
> either #22 tinned copper, which I bought a huge roll of from The Wireman
> before copper prices went up, or CAT5 wire. I haven't checked lately,
> but 1,000 of CAT5 at Home Depot has been pretty reasonable - and that's
>
If you want to use wires like CAT5, ask around. I've put in a whole
network with 5 machines. I put the word out and 3, 1000 foot boxes of
CAT5e turned up on my doorstep. No, they weren't full <sigh> BUT IIRC
they contained 400, 600, and ?. IOW, well over a 1000' at no charge and
I could have had lots more.
CAT5 is VERY fragile, but when used as a pair, they gain strength and
are fairly safe and inch or two below the surface. They aren't going to
be handling a lot of current, or even much current so the tiny stuff is
great, the price is right...even if you need to buy it. They can be a
bit irritating to fasten to the main ground connector at the base of the
vertical and also need to be protected from movement or any thing
catching on them.
> 8,000 feet of wire. CAT5 is very easy to strip apart into four twisted
>
Often lengths of 100' or a bit more can just be pulled out of the jacket
without even cutting it. Those 4 pair have lots of space in there.
73
Roger (K8RI)
> pairs. Untwisting the twisted pairs is a real pain, so I don't, I just
> hook them in parallel and leave them twisted. That nets 4,000 feet of
> wire from a 1,000 foot box.
>
>
>
> I mentioned #22 here once before and got push-back regarding it being
> too frail to drive on and susceptible to lightening damage. Neither has
> been a problem for me. YMMV. All the radials at the K4JA super-station
> were #22 BTW and got driven on routinely by Paul's Jeep and lawn tractor
> without any problems. A twisted pair from a CAT5 bundle, which includes
> leaving the insulation on - has been robust enough for my applications.
>
>
>
>
> 73,
>
> N4GG
>
>
>
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