Topband: Source for wire?

[Richard (Rick) Karlquist]

Herb Schoenbohm wrote:

> A great and inexpensive source for very strong and durable uninsulated 
> #18 suitable for Beverages are the 2500 foot spools of stainless steel 
> lashing wire used by Cable TV trunk feeder installers.  It may not be as 
> good as copper clad but sure looks good and is generally impervious to 
> corrosion.  The one big draw back is that it must be fed out of a 
> container with a small hole to prevent recoiling and snarling up into a 
> nasty mess.  It must also be elevated high enough to avoid garotting 
> live stock and humans passing through the area.
> 
> Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ


This URL gives a price of 2 cents or 4 cents per foot depending on alloy:

http://www.newtechindustries.com/newtech/outside_cable_plant/stainless_steel_lashing_wire.htm

The high priced stuff has more corrosion resistance for
use near salt water.  Breaking strength is given as a little over 100 lbs.

I would want to check the RF resistance before using it.  I wouldn't be 
surprised if it approached 1 ohm per ft, especially for the cheaper
stuff that is magnetic.  Note that nickel-chromium heater wire is .3 
ohms per foot at DC, and these wires have those metals as ingredients,
and of course RF resistance is higher than DC resistance.

Rick N6RK