[TowerTalk] Abrasion resistant wire antenna support suggestions

[Kirk Kleinschmidt]

0.061 or larger ROUND weed whacker (string trimmer) line. Works fine for 5-10 years at a time, even in harsh MN winters and summers. Used it for decades. No reason to stop now. :)
Don't use the "star profile" line or the various "edged" lines, as they will cut your tree limbs over time. :)
The round line is harder to find, but it's still available.
Good luck,
--Kirk, NT0Z  Rochester, MN My book, "Stealth Amateur Radio," is now available from www.stealthamateur.com and on the Amazon Kindle (soon) 

    On Wednesday, February 15, 2017 10:15 PM, Grant Saviers <grants2 at pacbell.net> wrote:
 

 7x19 wire rope will probably win by sawing off the limb.  1/8" is plenty 
strong enough and you might consider stainless.  400# SWL  5x safety 
factor.  Note the recommend sheave diameter is about 3.5" so there is a 
potential fatigue factor bent around a small branch.  If you shoot the 
line into the limb crotch and keep the line close to the trunk it's not 
clear to me what the source is for the abrasion.

I've used a pulley on the end of the rope thru the branch and never had 
it abraded since the tree grows around the rope before that happens and 
the pulley is permanently up there.  I use marine pulleys SS plus ball 
bearings (plastic), about $13. The die cast closeline junk ones fail 
quickly.

btw re wire rope: Never saddle a dead horse with wire rope clips, and 
Nicopress crimped sleeves are better.

Grant KZ1W

On 2/15/2017 16:22 PM, NC3Z Gary wrote:
> I have been using what I thought was high quality UV resistant Dacron to
> support my inverted L's. But the problem is as it runs through the
> support pine trees it comes into contact with several limbs and branches
> and it has been abraded to the point of failure in about 6 months. This
> has happened a couple of times.
>
> Any good products out there that is more resistant to limb abrasion?
>
>
> Gary Mitchelson
> NC3Z/4 Pamlico County, NC FM15
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>

_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk