Tony VE6MVP wrote:
On Sat, 07 Oct 2006 03:25:03 GMT, wrote:
Antenna wire would be one of the lowest cost elements of a complete
system, which questions the cost effectiveness of savings.
Sure, but clothesline wire is easily available in this small town.
Copper wire means I'd have to search it out in the nearest big city.
Tony
All the wire antennas I've built for the last 20 years or so have
been made out of electrical wire from the local home improvement
store.
They alway seem to outlive my interest in them.
Just standard household electrical wiring? So purchase some two wire
(actually three wire if you include the ground wire) electrical cable
and use the black and white wires? Will the insulation withstand the
out doors?
Not any of the multi-conductor household electrical wire ("Romex"),
find a spool of insulated #14 single-conductor "household wire" at any
decent neighborhood hardware store. Here in the southern provinces it's
called "#14 THHN" which comes in both solid and stranded types and in a
multitude of colors. I prefer stranded wire because it's less prone to
bending fatigue failure than is solid wire. Theoretically
If push comes to shove dial up a local electrician and ask where he
gets the stuff.
Personally I wouldn't string the wire thru bare screw eyes, I'd use the
Radio Shack catalog number 15-853 screwin insulated "TV cable
standoffs" to support it.
Or do you strip off the insulation and use them bare?
Leave the insulation alone, might get ugly after awhile but it lasts
forever out in the elements and has no discernable effect on the
performance of the wire as an HF loop antenna material.
Tony
Brian w3rv