[Towertalk] Re: Insulated Wire

[K5RC@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/3/2002 4:44:19 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
towertalk-request@contesting.com writes:


> It has been suggested that stranded antenna wire should be 
> insulated, and where insulation has been removed for 
> splicing/connections, the exposed parts should be sealed with 
> CoaxSeal, Liquid Electrical Tape, or whatever, to prevent corrosion, 
> because some RF current flows between adjoining strands.
> 
> 

One problem here. 468/f does not work with insulated wire. You have to 
consider the velocity factor of the jacket. Otherwise, you will be chopping 
off pieces of the insulated wire to get to the desired resonant frequency. 

Since I haven't found any accurate way to predict the VF of PVC covered wire, 
I wind up chopping off pieces of wire. All that said, my full size 160 sloper 
is made from 10 gauge stranded copper, PVC insulated wire from Home Depot. 
Much cheaper than copperweld and it has held up well the last two years in 
the highly intense IR sun at 6,500' elevation.

Tom, K5RC

Tom, K5RC


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