Topband: Source for wire?

[Jim Brown]

On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:53:51 -0700, Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote:

>Can you please tell us where we can buy #18 insulated wire
>cheaper than larger wire (14THHN at Home Depot)?

As usual, you ask a very good question. I buy and scrounge scrap 
wire wherever I can find it -- hamfests (what Easterners and 
MidWesterners call swap meets), surplus stores, etc. Out here in 
Silicon Valley, we have a surplus store (with several branches) 
called HSC. I've found some wonderful deals on scrap wire there. 

Some of my buddies have sound contracting businesses. They buy wire 
on 1,000 ft spools and install it in buildings. Sometimes they use 
wire on rental jobs, and it's junk after the job is over. Or they 
might pull it out of an installation, but they don't want to install 
used wire on a new project. They have little use for short lengths 
of wire -- it requires extra labor to make use of it, it has to be 
spliced, splices are a potential point of failure. One of the kinds 
of wire they use is unjacketed twisted pair. I un-twist that and use 
it for radials and Beverages. 

73,

Jim K9YC