[TowerTalk] Source for #6 Copperweld

[Jim Brown]

On 8/26/2024 4:32 AM, Martin A. Flynn wrote:
> Looking to source #6 copperweld for a longwire antenna in less than the 
> standard 685 foot coil.

W6GJB and I have been making great use of #8 bare copper that we buy in 
500 ft spools and stretch to make it "poor man's #9 hard drawn copper."

Process is pretty simple. Un-spool and tie one end to immovable object 
(big tree, telephone pole), the other end to trailer hitch, and pull 
VERY slowly until it breaks (always near one end). I first learned this 
trick from WA6NMF about 20 years ago, and have used it five times since.

We live in redwood country, so wire antennas are a major weapon. Dipoles 
strung between redwoods at 120 ft must be quite robust, this wire holds 
up quite well. W6GJB built one of the antennas that VK6YB designed to 
set records on 630m, and worked him with that antenna.

It's a brilliant design -- the first one on his qrz page. The design 
concept is simply to use wire as loading on both ends so that the 
vertical section in the middle of the antenna is a current maxima. I 
tweaked the design in NEC to fit on Glen's real estate by splitting the 
one long radial into three shorter ones.

73, Jim K9YC