[TowerTalk] solid THHN vs jacketed copperweld

[Steve Maki]

Wondering whether there is any substantial difference between #12 solid 
THHN and #12 PVC jacketed copperweld (steel) in terms of cutting a 
dipole to length.

I'm in the process of installing a K8UR style 80M four square. I trimmed 
the first element to length using THHN. Then I decided that I should use 
steel wire for at least the top half of the elements because of the high 
wire tension I ended up with after pulling the feed-point out far enough 
from the array center. It's an issue with not enough acreage around the 
tower.

Even so I ended up with a 50 ohm antenna rather than the desired 30-40 
ohm antenna per the DXE instruction manual. But that's an entirely 
difference issue (though I'd appreciate any comments on that as well).

Should I expect the steel wire lengths to be pretty close to the THHN 
lengths, or should I re-do the initial step of carefully cutting the 
first element in isolation?

TIA!

-Steve K8LX