Hi Tom,

I have used what the salesman described as "Polyethylene" for the last
14 years in CT sunshine.   It is green, with breaking strain of 300Kg for
5mm rope and said to be used in the fishing industry.    At the time the
it cost about £5+VAT for a 200m roll which weighed about 3Kg.  (Must
be more expensive now---everything else is).   I use 7mm for
the 136 aerial because it is easier to handle. I haven't had a breakage
yet but usually take the precaution of replacing the critical halyards every
two years and relegating the two year old rope to less arduous duties.
Also no problem handling the older rope.  Unfortunately there were no
printed specifications when I asked.

73, Brian CT1DRP

At 08:06 31/07/2003, you wrote:

Hello Group

Has anyone out there found a low-cost alternative to polypropylene ropes
for use as guys and halyards? The readily available, usually blue,
polyprop is affected by UV and, after a couple of years, becomes brittle
and breaks. If you then handle it, it will tear your hands to pieces,
leaving lots of splinters.

Polyprop is available cheaply at around 10 or 12p a metre and as my VLW
antenna has a total of 8 halyards, I need something low cost. I intend
to visit a chandlers store and seek their advice, but wondered if anyone
has any ideas?

73, Tom G3OLB