[TowerTalk] Ice melting

[van wd8aam]

At 01:25 9/22/2010, you wrote:
>  On 2010-09-21 5:35 PM, van wd8aam wrote:
>>Another idea I've never tried, but heard of and on a loop, it might just
>>work, is to hook a 12vdc power supply with ammeter and voltmeter, and
>>pump some power into the wire, heating it to warm, watching to make sure
>>you don't overtax the power supply, and see if the ice melts off the wire.
>>wd8aam
>Van,
>
>This definitely works.  When I lived in the frozen wasteland that is 
>sometimes Winter near Seattle, I had a 1 wavelength horizontal loop 
>(aka Skywire) made from stealthy bare #22 wire.  A 12 volt supply 
>nicely melted off the radial ice buildup before the wire stretched 
>and sagged (something I had witnessed more than once on inverted vees).
>
>This is also a handy feature of rhombics and Sterba curtains, which 
>can be closed loops for DC.
>
>73, Terry