[TowerTalk] Wire Rope

[K9MA]

Anyone who has ever tried to manage solid number 12 copperweld can 
appreciate the advantages of stranded. Even solid 14 and 16 are hard to 
handle. However, as noted, stranded copperweld doesn't last long, though 
I suppose it depends how thick the copper is.

My wire antennas, an 80 m dipole and a 40 m full wave, are now 18 AWG 
solid copperweld. Those antennas were hard drawn copper AWG 14 for 29 
years, with only one break, but I figured there had to be fatigue by 
then. (I bought that wire in Finland in 1976.) The AWG 18 copperweld 
isn't hard to handle, and it's very strong, surely stronger than the 
copper was.

73,
Scott K9MA

On 9/9/2020 7:51 PM, john at kk9a.com wrote:
> Anyone that uses temporary wire antennas would prefer stranded over solid.
> There are many opinions on Copperweld wire for amateur radio.  Some
> differences may be environment, I tried it in Aruba and the steel quickly
> rusted and the wire became very fragile. Besides stranded vs solid,
> Copperweld is available in many different sized, from 2AWG to 24AWG and the
> steel can be high or low carbon. It would be beneficial to see the specifics
> of the Copperweld wire that is working for antennas.  I have had excellent
> results with inexpensive 14AWG solid THHN for temporary stuff.
>
> John KK9A
>
> Jim Lux wrote:
>
> I'm sort of surprised they even sell stranded copperclad steel.. who
> uses such things?
>
> single strand copperclad has been around for more than a century - miles
> of telephone wires on poles, for instance.
>
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-- 
Scott  K9MA

k9ma at sdellington.us