[TowerTalk] Dacron rope as an insulator

George Dubovsky n4ua.va at gmail.com
Fri Mar 31 15:57:55 EDT 2017


New, clean, probably just fine. I have used it as the insulator at the ends
of dipoles at full power with no problems. The problem with all
rough-surface insulators like braided and twisted ropes is that all manner
of airborne unknown contaminants will lodge in the surface and - perhaps -
cause long term degradation of the electrical properties. Slick Phillystran
does not have that problem.

73,

geo - n4ua

On Fri, Mar 31, 2017 at 3:38 PM, Jim Thomson <jim.thom at telus.net> wrote:

> How good is dacron rope, as an insulator for HV?      I am planning on
> using  .3125 dacron rope as an overhead truss for the shortened  80m rotary
> dipole.
> One length going out each side of the mast.   They will terminate on the
> mast, aprx 4 ft above the 80m dipole, with a small turnbuckle on each side
> of the mast.
> The other ends will  terminate 15 ft out each side of the main trunk
> section, which is 2 inch OD tubing.   This will also be just a few inches
> inboard of the T bar
> capacity hats.  Balance of loading is  done with the tornado drive, which
> consists of a pair of compressible 6-12 uh coils at the feedpoint.
> Going  out 15 ft  will be at a HV point, esp  since thats also way
> outboard of the 6-12 uh coils  at the feedpoint.
>
> Will 15 ft be enough to stand off the peak V....esp when soaking wet ?
> IF each side is opposite polarity, then it gets even worse, as the
> potential  difference
> right at the mast could be substantial under some conditions.   Or do I
> need to install an insulator  on either side of the mast, right at each
> turnbuckle ?
> Id rather not have to install insulators if not required, but have no
> experience with dacron + HV.
>
> Jim  VE7RF
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