Steve,

The reason I mentioned clipping a piece of wire off the reel is
that" old friend" mentioned in his initial post a half mile spool of
wire. And he was not specific as to wire size.

I was thinking maybe a wooden reel of # 12 or 14.

And yes, if it's small gauge wire on a little spool at the end, it
would act as a bit of end loading, which would have little effect.

But, ya gotta admit, old friend was not very descriptive.

John