I am making a 40M double extended zepp from bare copper-plated steel
wire (26 ga). The wire will be on two reels, each reel holding 87 ft.
I will also be able to use this arrangment to make shorter, resonant
antennas.

However, the reel is too small to hold 135 ft of wire, which is the
next useful length (160M resonant). What is a good way of adding a 48
ft wire tail to the wire on the reel if I find myself on rare occasion
wanting to use 135 ft. wires?

I am thinking of crimping and soldering small eyes to the wire ends
and joining them with a small stainless nut and bolt. I figure this
will take some tension. Is there a better way?

An unrelated question: If it becomes necessary to splice this wire
permanently, what is a good way of doing it? Will soldering a
twisted 1/2" overlap do the job? How do I keep the solder from
tinning (and stiffening) the wire near the joint? Is there a chemical
that will repel the solder (anti-flux)? Heat sinks?

Ken KC2JDY

Ken
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