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