Here is a note I posted over three years ago. Thought it might still
be relevant, so I decided to call the company and confirm a few things.
Their phone number (area code) changed since the original post,
but I have corrected it in the note. Prices are still the same as they
were in late 1997! They did not have # 10 in stock but had # 11 which
is good enough for what I am doing professionally. --W0UN
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ANTENNA WIRE
The Copperweld Bimetalics factory for copper clad steel wire is in
Fayetteville, TN but sells nothing under 1000 pounds. For smaller orders
contact Joe Lawrence at South Star--931-433-3991. He is the former
customer service guy at Copperweld and his company is located about
3/4 mile from the factory and handles smaller quantities. As of January,
2002 everything is $1.96 per pound plus a flat $22.50 coil charge. What
they typically stock is the 30% wire with the harder steel core, which is
the relatively stiff stuff we all know and love.
Here are some typical (approximate) values of interest:
AWG diameter lbs/1000ft $/1000ft (plus coil charge)
10 .102 29 57
12 .080 18 35
14 .064 11.5 23
16 .050 7 14
18 .040 4.5 9
The "coil" charge of $22.50 is a one-time per size per order charge and
basically covers the cost of moving the big reel into position, setting up the
measuring device, and returning the reel when complete. The wire is coiled
into 20 inch ID coils and tied with twine--ie, no reel.
They prefer to handle coils no greater than 100 pounds, although they will go
up to 200 pounds, and can make them any smaller size for the fixed setup
charge of $22.50. If you want ten 100 pound coils it is $22.50. If you want
fifty 20 pound coils it is also the same $22.50. Of course shipping is on top
of this. For a serious radial system of 30,000 ft of #18 wire the cost
would be
about $270 plus the $22.50 coil charge. This works out to about one cent per
foot. Not too bad considering what wire costs in small quantities. Hope this
information is useful.
73 John Brosnahan W0UN
John W. Brosnahan
shr@ricc.net
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