[TowerTalk] Wire Rope

[Tom Osborne Sr.]

I had some of that 450 ohm ladder line with copperweld wire and that stuff
was terrible.  It rusted like crazy where it hooked to the antenna.  After
about 6 months I had to lower the antenna, cut the ends off of the feed
line and reconnect it.  The SWR would go out of sight.  Finally took it
down and threw it away.  73
Tom W7WHY


On Thu, Sep 10, 2020 at 3:07 AM Rob Atkinson <ranchorobbo at gmail.com> wrote:

> I've been told that modern copperweld doesn't have anywhere near the
> thickness of copper on it compared to the copperweld of 60 or 70 years
> ago.   The old wire lasted.  I think W6AM used it with his rhombics
> and I never heard of Don having to replace them every few years.   And
> he was near the Pacific with the salt water problem.  I suggest
> contacting commercial shortwave broadcasters who, in the U.S., have a
> lot of rhombic antennas and find out what sort of long span wire they
> use.  In general, I find it helpful to contact broadcasters whenever I
> am attempting something that parallels what has been done by
> commercial industry.  Those people have a knowledge base of facts and
> data such as time between failure, and while their materials may be
> costly, they can provide a method that can be followed to some extent
> at a lower cost for a ham.
>
> 73
>
> Rob
> K5UJ
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