[TowerTalk] Dacron rope as an insulator

[Clay Autery]

For your particular purpose, you might consider a polyester covered
kevlar material of the minimum diameter required to carry your
calculated load plus a little engineering buffer.
Some folks use this material for guy wires and the like.

It has good strength in tension, doesn't stretch much, less
cross-sectional area, etc, etc.

______________________
Clay Autery, KY5G
MONTAC Enterprises
(318) 518-1389

On 3/31/2017 2:38 PM, Jim Thomson 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  
>