[CQ-Contest] [TowerTalk] newest bestest radial material ever!

Les Kalmus w2lk at earthlink.net
Fri Aug 17 12:24:07 EDT 2007


Any thoughts on how this stuff will survive on the ground?

Les W2LK

Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote:
> Last year I bought some aluminum wire in coils like you describe.  I 
> think it was a company
> in Ohio and may very well have been Malinco.  Anyway, they had a 50 lb 
> minimum and charged
> something like $3 and change per pound.  This is way cheaper than 
> McMaster.  I wholeheartedly
> agree that alloy 1100 is the hot setup.  BTW, did you know it also is 
> the most corrosion resistant?
> The stuff I got was annealed to practically wet noodle consistency :-).  
> Wonderful to work with.
>
> Rick N6RK
>
>
>
> K1TTT wrote:
>   
>> I just found the newest bestest radial material I have ever used!  And over
>> the years I have used a lot of them.  It ain't cheap, but at this point in
>> the 80m 4-square project that doesn't much matter any more.  
>>
>> It is Alloy 1100 Aluminum Wire .125" Diameter(just under 8ga), 12-lb Coil,
>> 792' Coil, McMaster-Carr part number 8866k15.  They sell it for $150 and its
>> enough for 12 radials for 80m.  it comes with a tag from www.malinco.com,
>> they don't seem to have an on-line order system so probably only deal in big
>> quantities.
>>
>> If you want something a bit cheaper they have 2016' coils of .080 (about
>> 12ga) for $146.
>>
>> This stuff comes in a coil, which kind of worried me a bit until I cut off
>> the tie wraps and it just sat there... no spring to it at all.  It is easy
>> to cut with small wire cutters, and easy to hand wrap around bolts and
>> itself to make eyes.  It can also be uncoiled and doesn't get kinked, you
>> don't have to roll it out like Copperweld or other stiffer wires.  I found
>> it easiest to just stick the coil over one arm and uncoil it as I walked
>> from vertical to vertical to connect them up.  
>>
>> Btw, even with just the radials connected around the square this new
>> 4-square is MUCH better than the old hanging around a tower.  I can take an
>> s9+ ve3 and make them disappear off the back.
>>
>> David Robbins K1TTT
>> e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
>> web: http://www.k1ttt.net
>> AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
>>  
>>
>>
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>>
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>>   
>>     
>
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