"merlin-7" wrote in
:

Some of you may have read my posts on the parallel dipole. I have
some
large gauge copper clad wire. It has a memory and is a pain to work
with but it has a breaking point of around 800lbs (I think that's
right)
Can you stretch that stuff out tight and take a propane torch to it
so that
it will not slinky on you? Without damaging it?

Dealing firstly with wire of uniform material (ie unclad), you propose to
anneal the wire, which at least reduces its strength, changes its
elasticity, and may affect its corrosion properties.

In the case of copper clad wire, you may upset the bond between copper
and steel core or induce cracking in the copper cladding, either during
the heating / cooling process or in service due to the changed elasticity
of the core.

I wouldn't even think of it.

Wear safety goggles, and be very careful with the springy wire. Or, use
soft copper and replace it if / when it blows down.

Owen

Some of you may have read my posts on the parallel dipole. I have some
large gauge copper clad wire. It has a memory and is a pain to work with but
it has a breaking point of around 800lbs (I think that's right)
Can you stretch that stuff out tight and take a propane torch to it so that
it will not slinky on you? Without damaging it?

Thanks
KI4ILB

On Mar 21, 5:51 pm, Owen Duffy wrote:
"merlin-7" wrote :

Some of you may have read my posts on the parallel dipole. I have
some
large gauge copper clad wire. It has a memory and is a pain to work
with but it has a breaking point of around 800lbs (I think that's
right)
Can you stretch that stuff out tight and take a propane torch to it
so that
it will not slinky on you? Without damaging it?

Dealing firstly with wire of uniform material (ie unclad), you propose to
anneal the wire, which at least reduces its strength, changes its
elasticity, and may affect its corrosion properties.

In the case of copper clad wire, you may upset the bond between copper
and steel core or induce cracking in the copper cladding, either during
the heating / cooling process or in service due to the changed elasticity
of the core.

I wouldn't even think of it.

Wear safety goggles, and be very careful with the springy wire. Or, use
soft copper and replace it if / when it blows down.

Owen

When I was a kid my grandfather ran a depot for the G&F railroad and I
remember them replaceing some of the telegraph lines there. They drew
the wire through a device that had rollers in it to take out the curl.
I dont really remember how it worked but that it was pretty simple. Im
betting it was probably much like those 3 roller devices you use to
put curl in metal rods.

Jimmie

On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:26:35 -0500, "merlin-7"
wrote:

Some of you may have read my posts on the parallel dipole. I have some
large gauge copper clad wire. It has a memory and is a pain to work with but
it has a breaking point of around 800lbs (I think that's right)
Can you stretch that stuff out tight and take a propane torch to it so that
it will not slinky on you? Without damaging it?

Thanks
KI4ILB

I read your other thread and the replies thus far to this one. I
never had the luxury of a tower, so I installed all mine in trees.
The last time I had one fall, I changed the way I did things a little.
I created a pilot line which was a string that went from the base of
one tree to the base of the other with plenty of room to lower the
middle to the ground. Then I ran the string thru the center
connection for the coax (It wasn't a balun, but had an eyelet on top)
and ran that string thru the eyelet. Then, the ends of the antenna
were pulled up by another piece of string. The tension was lowered
enough to allow for the sway of the trees, and the string going thru
the eyelet was just let very loose. It was loosely tacked to the trunk
of each tree such that any pressure would release it. The antenna
might fall, but I always had a pilot string to pull up a new line for
the antenna.

I always used mason's twine to raise my antennas. needless to say, I
replaced it every year. the antennas were only pulled down by a storm
once and once when I haphazardly tightened the strings too much to
allow for the sway of the trees.

My pilot line idea would have failed to work, not because of storms,
but because of branches. When I moved, the tree limbs had grown into
the wires and I barely was able to recover the antenna when we moved
out. Now I live in an apartment and have no usable trees.

I used #14 copper strand (THHN) and never had a problem with the wire
breaking or having problems with it. i have had as many as 6 wires on
the dipole, but I found that was too much to handle, keep untangled,
etc. I reverted at the end to two 4 wire antennas and later to a 135
foot dipole with twin-lead feed into a tuner. With the latter I could
tune anything.

BTW, I don't know if you use an amp or not, but if not, you can get
away with fairly small wire for the higher bands. If you feel you
need the strength of the longer one (presumably 80 meters), you can
use some #18 wire to hang the other dipoles on. My dipole was a
parallel fan in which all the elements were separated by pieces of PVC
for spacers. To some degree, the more the merrier.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

73 for now
Buck, N4PGW
www.lumpuckeroo.com
--
73 for now
Buck, N4PGW
www.lumpuckeroo.com
www.lumpuckeroo.com
N4PGW

I think I'll fix my signature, sorry folk.

73 for now
Buck, N4PGW
www.lumpuckeroo.com

--
73 for now
Buck, N4PGW
www.lumpuckeroo.com
www.lumpuckeroo.com
N4PGW

On Fri, 23 Mar 2007 08:09:18 -0400, Buck
wrote:

testing signature
--
73 for now
Buck, N4PGW
www.lumpuckeroo.com