Re: Topband: Spam:************, Re: Deployable radials for 80/160M
Wish we had a Lowes here in the VI but I will look and see if Home Depot has a solid wire equivalent. They have THHN is stranded but I am not sure about solid insulated #14 as i have not ever seen that. Herb, KV4FZ On 6/26/2014 8:17 AM, Dave Heil wrote: That seems a little too much work when Lowe's sells 500 foot spools of insulated #14 for $45. 73, Dave K8MN On 6/24/2014 19 46, Herb Schoenbohm wrote: I found a great source for radial wire at home Depot where they have 100' rolls of 14-2 packaged for under $40. Two conductors are insulated and one of course is not after the easy job of striping them across a bench jig or simple having a second person hold a pocket knife while you pull the conductors apart you end up with 300 feet of higher quality ground radial material. 2 each 100 foot insulated radials due to the VF are very close to 1/4 wave consideration and the the shorter 100 foot bare doesn't hurt either. This of course brings up the issue of mixing bare and insulated wire in any ground system so I use the bare conductor for other 80 and 40 verticals. Yet the sum of the three wires is cheaper than buying them individually it seems. _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Spam:************, Re: Deployable radials for 80/160M
The best price I could find for THHN stranded 14AWG wire was from an ordinary local electrical supply house. I bought three 2500 ft spools for about $90 each (for sixty 120 ft radials). Lowes and Home Depot only carried shorter lengths and were substantially more expensive. 73, Jim W8ZR Sent from my iPhone On Jun 26, 2014, at 9:33 AM, Herb Schoenbohm he...@vitelcom.net wrote: Wish we had a Lowes here in the VI but I will look and see if Home Depot has a solid wire equivalent. They have THHN is stranded but I am not sure about solid insulated #14 as i have not ever seen that. Herb, KV4FZ On 6/26/2014 8:17 AM, Dave Heil wrote: That seems a little too much work when Lowe's sells 500 foot spools of insulated #14 for $45. 73, Dave K8MN On 6/24/2014 19 46, Herb Schoenbohm wrote: I found a great source for radial wire at home Depot where they have 100' rolls of 14-2 packaged for under $40. Two conductors are insulated and one of course is not after the easy job of striping them across a bench jig or simple having a second person hold a pocket knife while you pull the conductors apart you end up with 300 feet of higher quality ground radial material. 2 each 100 foot insulated radials due to the VF are very close to 1/4 wave consideration and the the shorter 100 foot bare doesn't hurt either. This of course brings up the issue of mixing bare and insulated wire in any ground system so I use the bare conductor for other 80 and 40 verticals. Yet the sum of the three wires is cheaper than buying them individually it seems. _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Spam:************, Re: Deployable radials for 80/160M
Wouldn't stranded wire be preferred for such a use? Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems that solid wire would be more prone to breakage. Matt KK4CPS On Thu, Jun 26, 2014 at 11:33 AM, Herb Schoenbohm he...@vitelcom.net wrote: Wish we had a Lowes here in the VI but I will look and see if Home Depot has a solid wire equivalent. They have THHN is stranded but I am not sure about solid insulated #14 as i have not ever seen that. Herb, KV4FZ On 6/26/2014 8:17 AM, Dave Heil wrote: That seems a little too much work when Lowe's sells 500 foot spools of insulated #14 for $45. 73, Dave K8MN On 6/24/2014 19 46, Herb Schoenbohm wrote: I found a great source for radial wire at home Depot where they have 100' rolls of 14-2 packaged for under $40. Two conductors are insulated and one of course is not after the easy job of striping them across a bench jig or simple having a second person hold a pocket knife while you pull the conductors apart you end up with 300 feet of higher quality ground radial material. 2 each 100 foot insulated radials due to the VF are very close to 1/4 wave consideration and the the shorter 100 foot bare doesn't hurt either. This of course brings up the issue of mixing bare and insulated wire in any ground system so I use the bare conductor for other 80 and 40 verticals. Yet the sum of the three wires is cheaper than buying them individually it seems. _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Spam:************, Re: Deployable radials for 80/160M
Matt, I started using surplus stranded high temperature teflon coated wire for my radial system because I got it at a good price. It is flexible and easy to work with but I noticed that if the ends were not sealed of if there were breaks in the insulation it would soak up water via capillary action. I needed more wire to finish my 36 radial system so I decided to try 14 gauge THHN insulated wire from Lowes. It is not as flexible but I should not have to worry about it absorbing water. Most of my radial system is in the wooded area of by property. I have some radials on the grassy area of my yard that I move in the summer. I use the solid wire for the permanent installation and the stranded wire for the seasonal installation. Mike N2MS - Original Message - From: Matthew King - KK4CPS kk4...@gmail.com To: he...@vitelcom.net Cc: topband@contesting.com Sent: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 17:01:59 - (UTC) Subject: Re: Topband: Spam:, Re: Deployable radials for 80/160M Wouldn't stranded wire be preferred for such a use? Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems that solid wire would be more prone to breakage. Matt KK4CPS On Thu, Jun 26, 2014 at 11:33 AM, Herb Schoenbohm he...@vitelcom.net wrote: _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
