Message-ID: <8E4FC73E19264769BDD773018FF63E7A@TonyLaptop>
From: "Tony Baldwin" <ei8jk@o2.ie>
To: <rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org>
References: <6DEA7E8987244A48846E44813972D608@TonyLaptop> <002301cb13b3$fe031640$4001a8c0@lark> <4C2468E5.14422.A52B82@dave.davesergeant.com>
In-Reply-To: <4C2468E5.14422.A52B82@dave.davesergeant.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:14:11 +0100
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Subject: LF: Re: Re: Antenna wire
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Sorry to bewilder you Dave, but when it comes to LF wire aerials I really am 
a complete newbie.
Although I've been licenced for over 40 years now, I have spent all my time 
up the "other end" of the spectrum.

So, no I haven't really got 100m rolls of stranded cable kicking around in 
my shack. I do have a 6 foot dish, a couple of 30 foot long 2m yagis etc, 
etc, so any wire needed for a 136 aerial I will have to go out and buy, and 
before I did that I wanted to make sure that I wasn't wasting my money on 
the wrong stuff, plus wire shops are few and far between down this neck of 
the woods.
The only wire locally (nearest 15 miles) is CB & TV coax, twin and earth 
electrical and electric fencing wire, anything else is a 120 mile round trip 
to Cork city or arm and a leg postage.
Thanks for the tip about loudspeaker cable, that might be possible locally.
73, Tony, EI8JK


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Sergeant" <dave@davesergeant.com>
To: <rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org>
Sent: Friday, June 25, 2010 9:29 AM
Subject: LF: Re: Antenna wire


>> Sorry to ask a stupid newbie question but what is the best wire for my
>> aerial ? I had thought about getting a couple of 100m rolls of cheapo
>> RG58 and soldering the centre and screen together, or is there a better
>> way ? Tony, EI8JK
>>
>
> I have been watching this thread with some bewilderment...
>
> If the antenna you are putting up is a form of longwire, dipole
> (shortened I guess..), doublet, G5RV etc then it honestly doesn't
> matter one bit. Any piece of cheap stranded wire will do, and the only
> requirements are mechanical, ie to ensure it stays up in the air.
> Normal stranded 19/.76 or whatever will do. Most of us have plenty of
> this lying around the shack. There is absolutely no purpose in using
> coax, or for that matter heavy electrical cable, as you will struggle
> to keep this horizontal and its weight will soon break the guys.
>
> If on the other hand you are talking about resonant loops, then it is
> important to keep the dc resistance as low as possible, especially on
> 136 where the radiation resistance is miniscule. When I used a loop on
> 136 I used heavy gauge loudspeaker cable, readily available in 100m
> rolls, with the pair shorted to make a single conductor. Don't bother
> with the 'oxygen free' stuff, that is throwing money down the drain.. I
> don't think coax, any sort, will give you as low a dc resistance.
>
> 73 Dave G3YMC
>
> http://www.davesergeant.com
>
>
>