[TowerTalk] Wire antenna in trees?

[Jim Thomson]

Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2017 16:49:09 -0400
From: <john at kk9a.com>
To: "'Grant Saviers'" <grants2 at pacbell.net>,
<towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Wire antenna in trees?

<My question was what is the advantage of Flexweave over THHN. Both are 100% copper, Flexweave has significantly more strands which makes it more flexible but how much flexibility do you need. Is there a corrosion issue with so many strands? Yes <THHN is not meant for exterior use, the outer nylon of THHN flakes off in a short time however the PVC coating seems to last for years even in a high UV environment. For decades I have used THHN for rotator wire. I used to use stranded copperweld <wire for temporary dipoles. After many years the strands started breaking so I replaced the wire and the newer copperweld and it did the same thing after a year.  Apparently the wire quality was worse than my original and I quit using it.

<John KK9A

##  The THNN wire that is available at the local home depot is solid copper, not stranded. Comes in several colors.  Never seen it in stranded.
I used RW-90, in both 10 and 8 gauge, stranded copper.  That outer jacket is UV proof, and is extremely tough.  I believe its polyethelene beneath the black jacket.   You can get RW-90 in any gauge, at any electrical wholesaler.  
The 10 gauge was $100.00  for a 300M spool. .....  984 feet. 

##  Another option is alumoweld wire. Its  stupid strong in 10 gauge.  I have a 500 ft roll of it. Aluminum clad solid steel core.  SW broadcast stations use alumoweld for their curtain arrays. 

Jim   VE7RF