[TowerTalk] Durability of Mastrant rope

Don w7wll at arrl.net
Fri Apr 19 23:25:25 EDT 2019


That is what I use out here on the left coast, a tarred twisted line 
that is produced by a firm (Evanston?) up in the Seattle area. Used by 
the fishing fleets up and down the left coast for numerous purposes. 
I've never had one break under the most severe conditions. Do need to 
secure the ends because it is twisted. A little flame or dipped in 
resin. Available at ship chandlers and suppliers. Withstands salt, UV 
and rain. I have one antenna that it has held up for 17 years and still 
looks good.

Don W7WLL

On 4/19/2019 8:15 PM, Keith Dutson wrote:
> In 1984 I bought a roll of tarred nylon cord (trot line) to string up a 160 meter dipole in the trees.  I think it was 440 pound strength.  One end got stuck and had to be cut to get the wire down several years later.  That line still is visible today, hanging down from that tree.
>
> 73, Keith NM5G
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TowerTalk <towertalk-bounces at contesting.com> On Behalf Of Jim Brown
> Sent: Friday, April 19, 2019 1:29 PM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Durability of Mastrant rope
>
> Was the antenna installed with pulleys and a weight on one end?  Any antenna rigged between trees without that method WILL be on the ground when the wind blows hard.
>
> I use Synthetic Textiles antenna rope sold by several ham vendors. It's good stuff, but the outer jacket of the 5/16-in rope eventually frays and breaks where it goes through the pulleys, and must be replaced. I've gone to the 7/16-in rope for my high dipoles between redwoods.  In this rope, the strength is the interior white rope, while the black outer jacket protects it from UV.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
> On 4/19/2019 5:04 AM, N4ZR wrote:
>> It was held up by a 70-foot pine tree, and my guess is that either the
>> wind caused it to be over-stressed or chafing against branches caused
>> it to fail.
>
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