[TowerTalk] Has anyone made use of aluminum pole to house wire?

[K8RI on TT]

On 8/11/2011 12:40 AM, Jim Lux wrote:
> On 8/10/11 11:37 AM, John Hensley wrote:
>> We recently had our utilities run underground to resolve some problems.  Left is a coil of 5/16" diameter stranded aluminum power line, about 100' or more.  Twoof the wires are black insulated, one is the ground return.
>> Is this stuff suitable for guying a tower or making a "last forever" wire antenna ofsome sort?
>> Would enjoy hearing responses to this.
>> TIA,
>> John
> Not so great as a guy wire (very little strength compared to steel)
>
> probably last forever as a wire antenna.
As long as the antennas is not very long.. Sounds like about #6 or #4 
lead which is nearly dead soft.  There's a reason they hang it from a 
messenger for overhead lines. We have 00 underground, but it's copper to 
the meter and Al from there to the panel. The Al fed with 00 Cu is 
really big.

OTOH there's no reason not to give it a try unless it goes over a power 
feed.


73

Roger (K8RI)
>
> Aluminum has higher loss than copper, but big diameter makes up for a lot.
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