TenTec
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [TenTec] O T Open wire feed

To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] O T Open wire feed
From: Tommy <aldermant@alltel.net>
Reply-to: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Thu, 02 Feb 2006 06:50:22 -0500
List-post: <mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
>
>
>I would like to thank all who responded. I got way more than expected, and
>it was all interesting. I am a believer in open wire feed line. I just dont
>have a good way to get it into my shack direct to the tuner.
>
>Thanks all
>73 Paul K9OT
>

Paul,

Just a comment on this 'problem'.

Two methods of getting wires in a home,  with  YL approval, can be 
pretty simple. I just moved to my retirement QTH and due to tree 
location, I have a run of some 600 feet of open wire feeders. I 
agonized about how I could get the feeders inside the house 
effectively and without making my radio room look like a junk room. 
At my local hardware store, while looking for ideas,  in the plumbing 
section, I found some white nylon toilet bowl water pipe, for 98 cent 
a piece. This pipe is 20 inches long, 3/8" in outer diameter, and 
3/16" inner diameter. One end has small flange that is 3/4" in 
diameter. I drilled two 'feed' holes, spaced 4" apart, in the eves of 
the house, pointing up at an angle of about 45 degrees, into the 
attic. In my radio room I drilled two 3/8" holes in the white 
ceiling, up into the attic. I used a simple snug fitting rubber 
grommet over the tubing, on the attic side to keep the tubing from 
sliding back out.  I simply ran my feeder wires through the tubing up 
into the attic, then in the attic, I ran these same wires down 
through the tubes, into my shack directly to the back on my old 
Johnson KW match box. In the radio room, I painted the flange of the 
tube with white ceiling paint, on the outside I filled the open end 
of the tubes with plain old coax seal, just enough to keep bugs, 
etc., out. It is a very neat and clean installation that turned out 
to be YL approved.

If you want to come directly through a glass window pane (and not 
replace you glass window pane with clear plastic), you can drill a 
hole directly in the glass! Again at the hardware store, in the 
bathroom section, most places sell what is called bathroom tile 
drills. I bought one that is 1/8' in diameter. To drill through 
glass, I took the window out and  laid it on a folded wet towel 
directly under where I wanted to drill. I used a small electric drill 
and while cutting the holes, applied NO pressure to the drill. 
Meaning, I let the weight of the drill apply it's own pressure while 
it was cutting the hole. (Make sure you do not apply pressure as you 
can pretty easily crack the glass!) Although probably not necessary, 
I kept the cutting side of the glass wet with cool water. The two 
holes came out perfect and I was able to simply run the two wires 
directly through the very small holes after simply replacing the 
window. This also worked out really nice and looked quite clean.

Both approaches look really clean and nice and you don't have to make 
a 'mess' drilling holes through your walls, etc. I run full legal 
power output with my Titan 3 and have not noticed any electrical 
problems using these methods.

Just some 'workable' ideas. Good luck if you decide to bring your wires inside.

Tom - W4BQF

_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>