My "kinky" problem

[NT0A]

Dear Wire Antenna Enthusiasts,

I love Copperweld (tm) antenna wire!
It's strong and you can stretch it tight.

I hate Copperweld (tm) antenna wire!
Just looking at it on the spool will cause it to kink.

I am currently constructing a terminated fan antenna using 14 gauge, stranded, Copperweld (tm) wire.. It's a rather massive beast that has 987 feet of wire, six 600Ω - 200 watt non inductive wire would resistors placed at strategic locations, and covers 0.4 acres not counting the six ropes to hang it from the trees. The wire"package" by itself is a rectangle roughly 200 x 90 feet.

Although I have been as careful as possible during the construction phase, the wire is badly kinked in several locations, and I need to fix the kinks and restore the strength of the wire. The way I have done this in the past is by using a Western Union splice. That is a splice that was developed in the 19th century by Western Union linemen and is widely recognized as perhaps the strongest wire splice, but it is a bitch with Copperweld (tm). That splice requires pre-tinning the wires for the full length of the splice and twisting and wrapping the 14 gauge, steel core wire tightly for several turns firmly against the 14 gauge wire that you are splicing. Consequently, I am open to other ideas.

One thing that I am considering is using a sweged heavy duty wire connector, but I don't want the antenna to come down with the first squall line gust front that rips through Kansas City. Have any of you wire antenna buffs either tested or have seen test results from the standpoint of tensile strength degradation or reduction of a connection that uses a heavy duty wire connector through which both sire pass that is swedged and soldered?

Or perhaps you have an idea for an even better way to resolve my "kinky" problem . . .

73 es gud DX this year de Bob NTØA K

[WB2WIK]

This is why I never use that stuff. It's very difficult to work with and copperclad can actually have significant skin resistance at lower frequencies like 160m, where it becomes pretty lossy.

I use "Flexweave," like the #12AWG stuff found here: http://www.thewireman.com/antennap.html

It's 259 strands of pure copper, very strong, has nearly zero skin resistance at any frequency, and is so flexible you can coil up 100' and stuff it in your pocket, then pull one end and it comes out straight.

[N3JBH]

this topic had me with the KINKY part of the subject. I never much of a copper clad metal wire either. I just use plain old fashion 12 awg insulated wire for my wire antenna's and never had any them break yet. Had a large tree branch come down on one. And the dipole insulator broke but not the wire. So with that in mid i figured the weak point was not in the wire. Jeff

[AF6LJ]

This is why I never use that stuff. It's very difficult to work with and copperclad can actually have significant skin resistance at lower frequencies like 160m, where it becomes pretty lossy.

I use "Flexweave," like the #12AWG stuff found here: http://www.thewireman.com/antennap.html

It's 259 strands of pure copper, very strong, has nearly zero skin resistance at any frequency, and is so flexible you can coil up 100' and stuff it in your pocket, then pull one end and it comes out straight.

Sure is difficult to work with ....
I know that from first hand experience. I also have the problem of the wire rusting, I have to pull down my doublet this year before it falls apart. I'm five miles from the coast however the salt air has caused quite a bit of corrosion here not just on the antenna wire.

[WA7PRC]

This is why I never use that stuff. It's very difficult to work with and copperclad can actually have significant skin resistance at lower frequencies like 160m, where it becomes pretty lossy.

I use "Flexweave," like the #12AWG stuff found here: http://www.thewireman.com/antennap.html

It's 259 strands of pure copper, very strong, has nearly zero skin resistance at any frequency, and is so flexible you can coil up 100' and stuff it in your pocket, then pull one end and it comes out straight.

Ditto, except I prefer Davis RF as my source (they sell to The Wireman). I used the bare 12 AWG for a 40m dipole, and PVC-covered 14 AWG for my 80m cage inverted vee (500' of wire). Several years w/o a problem.

---

Sidenote: As of a few hours ago today, I now have 7.5 yd³ of concrete in the ground for my tower.

[KE5MC]

Just to qualify I have no direct experience with using wire connector (butt splice) for long term durability to mechanical stress. I think it will be as good as it gets. I would strip off the plastic sleeve so I only had the metal barrel to work with. It will use the least amount of wire to make the connection. I would guard against over crimping which is alway difficult to determine when is enough. Usually done with a measured pull test from light to heavy crimp to determine which crimp is the best. Destructive testing of several samples. Not practical in this case. I believe solder will help some with the mechanical strength and also keep out the elements. I would try to make the finished splice look like the center-line of the wire and barrel were all in the same alignment.

One thing I do with my outside connections is cover with thin coat of hot melt glue then heat shrink tubing. They make a commercial version with the glue inside the tubing and it makes a very weather resistant covering. Once I saw the commercial version I realized I could do my own with what I have on hand. Heat gun shrinks the tubing and remelts the glue at the same time.

I believe the kinks come from twists in the wire that are not noticed when the ends are connected. Then when stretched out the anchored ends can't unwind and you get a kink. I know... easier said than done.

Good luck with the project and let us know how it ends.

Mike

...snip...

One thing that I am considering is using a sweged heavy duty wire connector, but I don't want the antenna to come down with the first squall line gust front that rips through Kansas City. Have any of you wire antenna buffs either tested or have seen test results from the standpoint of tensile strength degradation or reduction of a connection that uses a heavy duty wire connector through which both sire pass that is swedged and soldered?

Or perhaps you have an idea for an even better way to resolve my "kinky" problem . . .

73 es gud DX this year de Bob NTØA K

[WB2WIK]

Kinks in wire can be 100% avoided by special handling. EXACTLY the same as kinks in water hoses.

When unwinding cable, you can't just grab an end and pull unless the wire in on a spool and the spool is turning as you're pulling.

What I do is put a pipe through the center of the spool, with the pipe resting horizontally on two "horses" made of wood that look like "X"'s so it just sits through the X's and spins. If you do it that way, you really can just grab and pull the wire.

If you sit the spool on the ground and do that, you get kinks with every single turn.

Doesn't matter if it's wire or cable, it's always the same problem.

But I don't like stranded copperweld for much of anything; not only is it difficult to handle, but often the copper cladding is so shallow that at lower frequencies, you're really using the steel core as your antenna. For longer antennas, that can be very lossy and degrades performance compared with pure copper. For a short antenna, probably not.

[WA7PRC]

Kinks in wire can be 100% avoided by special handling. EXACTLY the same as kinks in water hoses.

When unwinding cable, you can't just grab an end and pull unless the wire in on a spool and the spool is turning as you're pulling.

What I do is put a pipe through the center of the spool, with the pipe resting horizontally on two "horses" made of wood that look like "X"'s so it just sits through the X's and spins. If you do it that way, you really can just grab and pull the wire.

Yep. To hold a 500' roll of DX Engineering DXE-400-MAX, I quickly scabbed together this from OSB, a coupla sticks of wood, and a piece of pipe:


I'll be needing it soon because, as of a few hours ago, I now have a 7.5 yd³ of concrete poured for my tower.

[KA0GKT]

IIRC, at the bottom of 160 meters copper has a skin depth of 9.567 Mils (Mil = 1/1000 inch) If you are using 6% copper copperweld wire, in order to have the entire skin depth in copper at 1.8 MHz, a 6AWG wire would indeed be needed; however 10% copperweld is available and 10 AWG should be more than sufficient to have the copper depth exceed the skin depth. Silver plating? the skin depth in silver is 97% of copper; don't bother with Gold, you need more gold than copper as the skin depth in Gold is greater yet than in copper. (audio cables with gold plated connectors are pretty, but they put the psyco in psycoaccoustics!).

Just as a point of interest, 60 Hz has a skin depth of 1.6567 inches in copper, so a copper bus bar for 60 Hz. AC which exceeds 3.3134 inches in diameter is a waste of copper.

[WB2WIK]

IIRC, at the bottom of 160 meters copper has a skin depth of 9.567 Mils (Mil = 1/1000 inch) If you are using 6% copper copperweld wire, in order to have the entire skin depth in copper at 1.8 MHz, a 6AWG wire would indeed be needed; however 10% copperweld is available and 10 AWG should be more than sufficient to have the copper depth exceed the skin depth. Silver plating? the skin depth in silver is 97% of copper; don't bother with Gold, you need more gold than copper as the skin depth in Gold is greater yet than in copper. (audio cables with gold plated connectors are pretty, but they put the psyco in psycoaccoustics!).

Just as a point of interest, 60 Hz has a skin depth of 1.6567 inches in copper, so a copper bus bar for 60 Hz. AC which exceeds 3.3134 inches in diameter is a waste of copper.

I think that's all completely correct.

One problem with "long" wire antennas (longer than 1/2 WL) at 160m is you can build up more loss in the antenna than you can gain from the extra length.

I noted with interest that all the long rhombic antennas at the W6AM "rhombic farm" that worked quite well were solid copper wire, mostly #6AWG. I'm not even sure copperweld was available back when those were built (mostly in the 1930s through the 1950s), but if it was, none of it was used.