"Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr." wrote:

One of the best ladder lines I ever constructed was using some of my
sons Monster Cable that he had used with his stereo speaker system.
This heavy cable for some reason made a noticable difference in how my
80 meter loop skywire functioned. Bandwidth was definately greater,
and many received station signals were stronger. Logical NO, but they
were.

Gary,

How did that transparent plastic insulation on the monster cable wire
hold up in the sunshine over the years? I am thinking that if it decays
and cracks it might have an effect on the way the wire is fastened to the
spacers and thus come loose from the spacers.

I do have quite of bit of this #12 monster cable left over on a spool
from a speaker project I did last year. Also this monster cable is
relatively expensive compared to other alternatives and I would almost
hate to use it for feedline if it would only hold up a couple of years in
the weather and sun. I wonder just how much this monster cable braided
copper differs from regular #12 braided copper for AC wiring? Seems like
maybe the individual strands in the monster cable are finer than the ones
comprising regular AC braided wire of the same guage.

Bill K6TAJ

Hi Bill

The monster cable I had was ultra fine stranded to about size #8
copper, very thick.
It was only 8 years that it was up before I moved, and in that time it
did not get brittle although it did change from clear to amber over
that timespan.
I was able to roll it up and bring it with me and saw no signs of
cracking. But even if the insulation came off completely, it wouldn't
affect it as far as ladder line goes. I was even thinking of
stripping the insulation before using it for ladder line, but it was
somehow molded onto the wire braid which would make stripping it quite
hard. So I used it as is.

FWIW: My son who is a Hi Fi buff, is now using something similar in
appearance to our RG8U but in a twin housing, like some twin Cable TV
cable. I have no idea of the impedance or actually what it is he is
using. But he seems to like it better than the Monster Cable.

TTUL
Gary