[TowerTalk] Polyester vs Nylon - no contest

[VE6JY Don Moman]

I consider the dacron rope from Synthetic Textiles to be the good stuff -
have it for trussing on the 80m yagi elements - in place for 6 years now -
and last time I looked it was in perfect condition. But care was taken to
prevent chaffing using thimbles. Stretch was an issue so I used this.  But
for applications where stretch isn't a big deal, the simple hardware store
nylon rope is an excellent choice. I have had some up for various dipoles,
some under a great deal of tension, and they have shown no signs of
weakening. In my opinion, nylon is quite UV resistant.  They get much less
supple from the weathering and sometimes green from "stuff" growing in damp
locations but they still hold.

The one rope that stands out as being lousy for UV is the basic "poly" rope,
most often found in yellow.  This is properly called polypropelyene.  Some
colors are better than others - I have some black that has lasted longer - 5
years or so- than I expected, but it is showing signs of the uv breaking
down the surface.

Maybe this is a difference between the common rope names in different
countries but I would not want to label nylon as being a poor choice, even
in higher UV areas.

73 Don
VE6JY

reply to ve6jy at rac.ca
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Clive Whelan" <clive.whelan at btinternet.com>
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 9:42 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Polyester vs Nylon - no contest


> The chemistry is quite clear, nylon has very poor UV resistance indeed.
This
> may not be manifest in WA, but in FL you'd be lucky to get one summer out
of
> it!
>
> Bottom line is no contest, polyester every time!
>
>
> 73
>
> Clive
> GW3NJW
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of CubexCo at aol.com
> Sent: 23 February 2006 01:39
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Polyester vs Nylon - no contest
>
>
> In a message dated 2/22/2006 12:06:39 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:
>
> I'm not going over a tree branch.  I'm going through they eye of a ceramic
> insulator.  The ceramic insulators I use are very smooth.  The real point
is
> that 3/8" nylon rope outlasts the 3/16" dacron/polyster at my QTH.  3/16"
> Dacron/polyester: 1 year.  3/8" Nylon: 10+ years.
>
> Clay  W7CE
> ==================================
> I think that if you had a equivalent diameter Dacron/Polyester it would
> outlast the nylon and not stretch as Nylon is prone to do.   The Nylon
rope
> diameter being double that of the Dacron/polyester results in 4 times the
> cross
> section, not a valid comparison.    My experience with small 3/32"
polyester
> holding up 80 dipole. lines looped through trees on both ends, survived
> three direct
> hit Hurricanes, lost tree limbs that brought the line down, recovered it,
> and
> shot it over what was left of the tree and still doing well.  It is tough
> stuff.
>
> Regards,
> Norm W4QN
>
>
> "The Power of a Cubex Quad"
> http://www.cubex.com/
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