[TowerTalk] Electric Fence Wire For Radials !!

[Tom Anderson]

Also check with your local telephone/utility company about salvage, end of roll
wire, etc.  Southwestern Bell Telephone used to have a salvage store in North
Dallas (Carollton or Farmers Branch suburb) where you could buy everything from
desks to any kind of wire you could imagine, even hundreds of feet of the 22 or
24 gauge inside house phone wiring.  Best deals were on the flat silver & copper
braid that ranged from about 1/2 inch to 3-4 inches wide.  I bought one 40 ft
roll of the 3 or 4 inch wide braid for about $2.  It looked like they'd use a few
feet off of a roll and then discard it for some reason, maybe not enough to do
the next job an installer/repair person went on.

The store was open only one day a month to outsiders and was always full of hams
when I went.  They even had old leather pole climbing belts and leg spikes, but I
rather risk my life to a newer belt than some of the leather cracked ones they
were retiring. Also they had the thick rubber gloves for working around higher
voltage lines, although I'd want to fill a pair with water and check for pinhole
leaks before risking my life with them.

Tom, WW5L



n4kg@juno.com wrote:

> Aluminum Electric Fence wire can be found at County Co-ops
> as well as the typical home improvement centers.
>
> I used aluminum welding wire radials for 4 years at a previous
> location with good results.  I simply shoved the ends on the wires
> into a 'ground block' along with a short piece of tinned braid to the
> coax.  A tinned copper wire and plently of Penetrox or AL-NO-OX
> is another (better) solution.
>
> I expect that aluminum electric fence wire is less brittle than
> the welding wire I used and is therefore a better choice.
>
> Tom  N4KG
>
> On Mon, 12 Nov 2001 ValErwin@aol.com writes:
> >
> > Tower Dudes:
> >
> > I found the cheapest source of radial wire to be uninsulated,
> > Aluminum  electric fence wire. It is sold by Home Depot and
> > is found in the  fencing  section NOT the electrical section of the
> store --
> >
> > The wire, 17 ga., is sold in 400 meter rolls and is superior to Cu
> > wire in  that it is more resistant to soil corrosion when buried than
> > Cu wire  here in  the Dallas, TX area --- other soil conditions may
> tell
> > a different  story. My  radial field under my HyTower has been in the
> > ground now for 3 years  and only  shows a slight greying-type corrosion
>
> > on the wire surface.
> >
> > The only disadvantage I have found is that a "special" solder
> > (available at  Ace Hdw.) must be used if  you cannot find a
> > workaround  like I did.  --- I  attached the ends of all radials
> > to an aluminum plate via Al  nuts/bolts at  the antenna base.
> >
> > GL
> >
> > Val
> > W5PUT
>
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