Received-SPF: neutral (gmail.com: 193.82.116.20 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of owner-rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org)
Message-ID: <001a01c675eb$8102b340$0300a8c0@LAPTOP>
From: "Peter Martinez" <peter.martinez@btinternet.com>
To: <rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org>
References: <4464C6E3.23575.95B164@localhost>
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 17:42:56 -0000
MIME-Version: 1.0
Subject: LF: Re: Rope?
Content-Type: text/plain;
	format=flowed;
	charset="iso-8859-1";
	reply-type=original
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Sender: owner-rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org
Status: O

>From G3PLX:

Mike:

Be careful about using colour-fading as a guide to the performance of rope 
in sunlight - the differences tell you more about the pigment used than the 
UV resistance of the rope itself.  Anything coloured red will fade quickly. 
Blue pigment takes longer to fade. The pigment most resistant to UV is 
black.

Black also is by far the best pigment to prevent the UV from affecting the 
underlying structure, and white is the worst. This means that, regardless of 
the intrinsic UV-resistance of the basic material, almost ANYTHING which is 
loaded with a black pigment, or is painted black, will be highly resistant 
to UV. On the other hand, if you really want it white or a light colour, 
then you may need to go into more detail to discover what the basic material 
is made of.

My antenna came down the other day in a high wind, but it was quite clear 
that it had suffered UV degradation over 11 years. It was a white 
polypropylene rope with a white polycarbonate jacket (sold as washing line!) 
but the jacket had almost completely broken up and the UV had attacked the 
inner rope. I replaced it with more of the same because I still had some 
left from when I first put it up. I don't know if you can get black 
polypropylene but that's what I would recommend you try to find.

73
Peter