I purchased from surplus, six each of the larger 3 foot diameter reels of
WD-1A a few years ago. One of the reels was damaged by the freight company
and all of them have not weathered well in my storage area.
I am in the process of using from the broken reel and have set up in the
following manner to single handedly unspool the wire without tangling.
With the reel laying on end, the other end is removed so the reel of wire
resembles a spool of thread on a sewing machine.
I used a tripod with a 5' extension pipe placed along side the reel to hold
a loop made of #6 solid copper wire over the center of the reel, about 3
feet above the center of the reel.
The outer loose end of the reel of wire is fed upward, through the loop of
wire held by the tripod, and then outward to where I set up a take up reel
to roll off the amount of wire I require for the current project.
In this manner the wire unspools readily without any complications. It does
have the twist representing one twist per revolution of wire unspooled. For
me that has not been a problem.
I am currently using WD-1A for 2-wire Beverage experimentation AND for
radial wire under antennas at a new 'vertical farm'.
Another method of paying out the wire I may pursue for the other reels as I
use them, or respool them, is to make a heavy duty "lazy susan". A heavy
duty, light friction bearing, such as using
a wheel housing from a dismantled vehicle, would be required under the
'table' upon which the reel of wire would be placed.
I am sure there are other methods. YMMV.
de Milt, N5IA
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Wichers
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 7:47 AM
To: Herb Schoenbohm ; TopBand List
Subject: Re: Topband: WD-1A
If you're lucky, you might be able to grab the innermost end of the wire
and pull it out of the center of the coil (I'm assuming your rotted-away
reel left a "coil" of cable). There are actually commercial pull-out
type packages of wire made similarly to this. The wire will come out
with extra twists in it though.
If that doesn't work I think you're stuck with a lot of untangling work
if you want to make use of the wire.
-Bill
> I use several 900 foot reversible made from WD-1A and found this as a
> good solution and a good price for wire itself. I use the KD9SV boxes
> that Gary designed. My big problem is that I have huge 2500 foot roll
> where the cardboard core disintegrated leaving a mass of tangled WD-1.
> Maybe someone has an idea on the best way to unravel this without
> cutting it?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Herb, KV4FZ
>
>
_______________________________________________
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.2197 / Virus Database: 2437/5147 - Release Date: 07/22/12
_______________________________________________
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
|