Copper Antenna Wire

[KU0DM]

Where do you get yours?

[KJ3N]

http://www.thewireman.com/

I'm particularly fond of their product #531.

[NQ6U]

Home Despot, regular old 14 AWG THHN copper wire by the 500 foot spool. Works fine for the most part, although it does stretch over time so if you can find (and afford) multi-strand copper-clad steel wire, that's the way to go.

[XE1/N5AL]

I get my copper wire from the local power company. For some reason, they use lots of it in the street lamps.

12750

Really though, I still have some rolls of stranded copper wire that I bought from HRO Atlanta. Like the Pope, I also use 14 AWG THHN copper wire from a local electrical supply house -- as mentioned, it does have some stretching issues.

[KG4CGC]

I've bought it by the spool at the local hardware. Pulled a spool of 8ga out of the work dumpster a few years ago. I asked, "Are you sure you want to throw this away?"

[n2ize]

Get hold of some old telegraph wire. It works great and is very strong.

[KG4CGC]

Old transformers.

[K7SGJ]

Old transformers.

In series

[KK4AMI]

I've bought it by the spool at the local hardware. Pulled a spool of 8ga out of the work dumpster a few years ago. I asked, "Are you sure you want to throw this away?"



Finding a roll of copper wire like that is like finding a treasure chest these days.

[PA5COR]

Cleaned out a shop that sold anything from audi televisions and washing machines and did installations in electrics and grounding for lightning stuff,
Got all the wire out for testing the ( repaired) audio and televisions for the guys that bought the content of the shop, 10,000 feet of wire in supply here, 3000 feet of which is now my radial field for the inverted L.
Gave away some of it to poor hams that needed some wire, must have 5000 feet left for projects.

Included some shielded wire for microphones and lots of 300 foot rolls of 230 volt 16 amp installation wire, grounding wire some large copper clamps for lightning arrestors etc.
Used 17 grounding stakes here in the young seaclay to make sure I have a decent ground.
Seems I succeeded in that since my electrical installation was tested last year and the guy really tapped his electronic meter because he couold not believe the low resistance I had, grounds are all interconnected to the house ground.

[N2CHX]

When I was first building antenna's as a teenager I pulled the wire out of old transformers. After getting into broadcast engineering, there was never any lack of ancient spools of wire and scraps of useful stuff laying around various places. One time I even found a roll of Litz wire that had been gathering dust since probably the 1940's.

[kb2vxa]

I put up plenty of copper wire antennas that stayed for quite a few years with no noticeable sag, but they didn't have to support heavy coax either. Then if you want an 80M dipole that'll make a good perch for a family of condors you can do it for 60 buckaroos, 10ga CopperWeld (copper clad steel) from here: http://www.amateurradiosupplies.com/category-s/260.htm

So Kel, you pulled wire out of old transformers, I put wire into new transformers. Being a technician I hired on for testing, when I fouled everything up in winding they realized their mistake and put me where I belonged. (;->) Oh yeah, broadcasting IS a gold mine, I knew engineers for several stations who used me to clean out the shops and transmitter buildings. I used lots of really big inductors and air variable caps making 10KW ATUs among other impressive looking stuff, ALMOST used the 4-400As, 4X500s and some big-ass transformers for something I'd rather not talk about, and one engineer gave me this I used for a smaller version of the thing I'd rather not talk about. (;->)

[KK4AMI]

When I was first building antenna's as a teenager I pulled the wire out of old transformers. After getting into broadcast engineering, there was never any lack of ancient spools of wire and scraps of useful stuff laying around various places. One time I even found a roll of Litz wire that had been gathering dust since probably the 1940's.

The closest I ever came to anything like that was a couple of thousand yards of demolition wire. That is dual strand insulated and about 24 ga. Great making temporary long wire and Beverage Antennas for my R-71A, but not much else.

[n2ize]

One night I found an 60 lb (estimate) wooden spool of 12 gauge copper wire that someone had sitting in front of their home amidst the trash waiting for the garbage collectors. I immediately picked it up and carried it several blocks back home. I don't know the exact weight, I estimate it was at least 80 lb or more. My arms & shoulders were aching by the time I got the thing home. That wire made a lot of antennas. Needless to say many of my ham and SWL friends borrowed lengths of that wire to make all sorts of antennas. I made my antenna from it. In fact somewhere in the garage I think there is still at least a few hundred feet of that wire left on the spool.

Had the garbage collectors got it they sure as heck wouldn't have thrown it in the hopper.

[w3bny]

I got some #6 up in the trees that "fell off a truck". have some really thin copperweld too. That fell out of a dumpster Im not mistaken.

[KU0DM]

Well a local ham donated a 500' spool of electric fence wire, so I think I'm going to experiment with that. It's not your granddaddy's electric fence wire though, it's a strip about the same width of 450 ohm ladder line and is made up of interwoven steel wire, some covered in black and yellow insulation and some bare. It's surprisingly malleable and easy to work with, although a bit heavy. Hoping that it will be somewhat more broadband on 40, 80 and 160m relative to a dipole made out of #14.

[kb2vxa]

Yeah, this stuff. I have little doubt it will be a bit more broadband than a single strand of 14AWG. Don't expect much on 160 though, AM broadcast towers are very large "diameter" but very narrow band that must be taken into consideration so sidebands aren't attenuated and the received audio doesn't sound muddy. Now here's the question; will it keep your flying pigs in the pen?

[KJ3N]

Well a local ham donated a 500' spool of electric fence wire, so I think I'm going to experiment with that. It's not your granddaddy's electric fence wire though, it's a strip about the same width of 450 ohm ladder line and is made up of interwoven steel wire, some covered in black and yellow insulation and some bare. It's surprisingly malleable and easy to work with, although a bit heavy. Hoping that it will be somewhat more broadband on 40, 80 and 160m relative to a dipole made out of #14.

Any standard 40m dipole should be able to cover the entire band, even if it's made out of #14 wire. 80 & 160 are where you're going to have issues.

A cage dipole on 80m is what you'd need for increased bandwidth on that band. While, you'll see some improvement with the wire in question, it's still not going to cover the entire band.

http://files.qrz.com/v/w4hv/louisa_antenna.jpg

My somewhat lossy 160m vertical (65-foot tall with two 41-foot capacity hat wires and 32 radials) only gives me about half the band, at best. If I have another 32 radials under it, I could probably shrink that to about 50 Khz bandwidth.

If you get more than 50 Khz with a 160m dipole, up at 50 feet, I'd be surprised.

[n2ize]

I got some #6 up in the trees that "fell off a truck". have some really thin copperweld too. That fell out of a dumpster Im not mistaken.

And as we all know bunneh's love gathering things... :)

[kb2vxa]

Yep, it's amazing what Alice found at the bottom of teh bunneh hole.

[KG4NEL]

http://www.thewireman.com/

I'm particularly fond of their product #531.

They're my pusher for all things wire...

Good distributor of Davis RF cable, too...

[K7SGJ]

Any standard 40m dipole should be able to cover the entire band, even if it's made out of #14 wire. 80 & 160 are where you're going to have issues.

A cage dipole on 80m is what you'd need for increased bandwidth on that band. While, you'll see some improvement with the wire in question, it's still not going to cover the entire band.

http://files.qrz.com/v/w4hv/louisa_antenna.jpg

My somewhat lossy 160m vertical (65-foot tall with two 41-foot capacity hat wires and 32 radials) only gives me about half the band, at best. If I have another 32 radials under it, I could probably shrink that to about 50 Khz bandwidth.

If you get more than 50 Khz with a 160m dipole, up at 50 feet, I'd be surprised.


Hey, that's the prototype for the Stargate.

[VE7DCW]

Hey, that's the prototype for the Stargate.

....... and it looks like Chevron 2 is encoded as well :yes:

[KK4AMI]

Aww Crap! We hired tree cutters to raise the skirts up (cut down lower limbs) on all our trees. One of the workers decided to chainsaw my dacron rope that was holding up my dipole! That antenna survived 5 years with no issues and I had to hire an assassin to kill it. Squirrel fishin' season is in!

[KA9MOT]

Home Despot, regular old 14 AWG THHN copper wire by the 500 foot spool. Works fine for the most part, although it does stretch over time so if you can find (and afford) multi-strand copper-clad steel wire, that's the way to go.


Lowes for mine. Home Depot is so far away......

My most recent antenna (Built for ILQSO Party 10/19/2014) came from a 100 foot roll of #16 speaker wire I accidentally bought on eBay for 12 bucks. It looked like red/black zip cord in the picture and the price was a steal... for zip cord. Worked great for a 40M Portable Dipole and I have 66 feet left! Looks like zip cord in person too!