In a message dated 9/8/2004 5:40:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Charles Greene <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>If you live near enough sea water to get an >occasional sea spray, the >copperweld copper clAdding will corrode green, >then the core will rust in >several places. After that the wire breaks if >flexed like. It doesn't require salt spray to do that, either. Just takes longer. What happens is that *any* break in the copper cladding can let in moisture, and set up an electrolytic corrosion situation. The steel core corrodes like mad because it's essentially the cathode in a copper-steel cell whose plates are shorted. Of course salt water makes a better electrolyte than rain water, but any sort of ions in the water help things along. Pretty soon you have a piece of copper tubing and the wire fails. There are different levels of copper cladding, too - some are much thicker than others. There are also versions with insulation, which tends to protect the wire everywhere except joints. Joints can be protected by Plumbers Goop or similar noncorrosive sealer. Some folks swear by copperclad, others swear at it, but it *is* the strongest stuff for a given gauge. In the end, a lot depends on your replacement philosophy. Some folks replace before it falls down, others after... 73 de Jim, N2EY I didn't used to believe all the stuff about acid rain and UV exposure until I saw what my wire antenna hardware looked like after 5 years aloft. Not pretty! _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
