Jim (w9yc), et. al.:
I don't know if it's 'flexweave' wire. The stuff I know
as flexweave was actually woven. What I've been buying from
RadioWorks is laid wire, 256 strand copperweld, with PE insulation.
(the #14 which broke is 196 strand)
Although the wireman has "flexweave", I haven't bought anything from
him, so I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing or not.
What you say about solder is correct. The wire becomes brittle
adjacent to the solder, and works.
I don't use solid copper, because most of what you can find is soft-drawn,
and it, too, works under tension and tree-impulse loads, stretches, and
breaks.
I lost two 160m dipoles in VT that way. Switching to the #12 insulated,
flexible stuff eliminated the problem.
Since the #14 has broken for the second time, mid-span, I'm wondering about
the process of laying it up. If individual strands break, or run out, do
they have a physical splicing/layup jig, re-weave, and restart the run?
That would leave weak spots at random locations. In both cases, the breaks
appeared to spread over 3 or 4 inches.
What really ticks me off is that the tree won't give me the rest of the
antenna
back! (first time that happened.) If I have to buy more wire, I'll change
the
whole thing out for heavier. Need something for 160, anyway. :)
73/n2ea
jimjarvis@ieee.org
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