Topband: 1000 feet 5/8" hardline or 600ohm True Ladder line.

[Grant Saviers]

I use 9 gauge Al electric fencing wire for elevated radials among my 
trees.  It is pretty tough stuff, as 3" branches have fallen on it 
without anything but a little stretch.  it doesn't stretch much with 
time either.  Now 7.5 cents per foot on Amazon 
http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guardian-9-Guage-Aluminum-1000-Feet/dp/B00442G21G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398558684&sr=8-1&keywords=aluminum+fence+wire+9

This is the largest size I have found, but would make pretty good open 
wire feeder.

Grant

KZ1W
On 4/26/2014 9:10 AM, Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote:
> I used to have a 1000 foot long open wire line using
> 4AWG stranded insulated aluminum wire with an impedance of
> 450 ohms.  At the time, the wire cost $0.15 per foot.
> I think 4AWG was the smallest size available in aluminum.
> It is much easier to build a transformer
> for 450 ohms than 600 ohms, because 450/50 = 9 is
> a perfect square.  The spacing is something like 12.5
> cm.  It is supported every 15 meters with a support that
> spaces the wires apart by 12.5 cm.  There are no intermediate
> spreaders.  Originally, I had some intermediate spreaders but
> found them to be unnecessary.  At each end there is a 50 ohm 
> unbalanced to 50 ohm balanced transformer in cascade with a 50 ohm
> balanced to 450 ohm balanced transformer.  The supports
> are PVC pipe slipped over "T-posts" (used for fences).
> I see that the web site you mentioned shows this same
> technique.  Maybe they copied me, hi.
> It is easily deployed/redeployed.  The end to end loss
> including the transformers is a few tenths of a dB on
> 160 meters.
>
> I moved the shack closer to the antenna and shortened the
> line to 600 feet.  The line has served me well for over
> 10 years now.  There are some photos of the line on my
> web site www.n6rk.com.
>
> Rick N6RK
>
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