Hello Group,
I am currently restoring a Hygain 18AVt vertical antenna for our local AR
club.

I have dis-assembled the bracket on which the feedpoint is mounted. I have
discovered that the centre conductor of the SO239 to the first vertical
member is fed with a short length of braided copper.

My question is, should I use a piece of braid or stranded copper wire, or a
piece of solid copper wire in a 1/2 turn coil to minimise any strain on the
joints?

I was led to believe that braid isn't a good earthing medium and wonder if
the same applies for feeding RF.

The maximum transmitting power won't be over 200 watts.

I would appreciate some input here.

73
John
VK2KCE

VK2KCE wrote:
Hello Group,
I am currently restoring a Hygain 18AVt vertical antenna for our local AR
club.

I have dis-assembled the bracket on which the feedpoint is mounted. I have
discovered that the centre conductor of the SO239 to the first vertical
member is fed with a short length of braided copper.

My question is, should I use a piece of braid or stranded copper wire, or a
piece of solid copper wire in a 1/2 turn coil to minimise any strain on the
joints?

I was led to believe that braid isn't a good earthing medium and wonder if
the same applies for feeding RF.

The maximum transmitting power won't be over 200 watts.

I would appreciate some input here.

From an electrical standpoint, any of those are equally good, with the
possible exception of the half turn option. Braid has more RF resistance
than an equivalent flat or round conductor, but it'll be negligible in
this application. Putting a half turn in the wire will add some
reactance, which might possibly be noticeable on 10 meters depending on
the wire length and size of the half turn. If it is, it'll affect
resonance but won't have an appreciable effect on efficiency.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL