JoanD'arcRoast wrote:
Friend of mine bought an old farmhouse in the country. A tenant 30
years ago worked for telco, and used to throw things away in the woods
behind the house. I now have approximately 700 feet of black outdoor
telco line. It looks like zipcord or 2-conductor appliance wire. It has
a *very* tough jacket; the copper hasn't oxidized *at all*.

This is known as "drop wire" and is typically used as the "drop" from
the aerial terminal box to the residence.

I live in the 'burbs. Nine 100' Loblollies; Six 80' hardwoods. Back
property edge ends in a stream, eight feet down in a gully. Wind
recently brought down my horizontal loop and my TTFD, so in effect, I'm
(mentally) starting over.

What would you do? Unzip and solder the phone line for a 1000' Beverage
fastened with zip-ties to the shrubbery above the stream? (I doubt any
neighbors would even notice the wire.)

A Beverage is *highly* directive. Do you need reception from the
specific direction the lay of the land will allow you? Also, although a
Beverage will work into the HF range, it is typically used for LF and
MF, up to about 2 MHz. Do you listen to those frequencies and in that
particular direction?

If you answer "no", you may be better off selling it for the scrap
copper value, which thanks to our Chinese friends, is quite high now.