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Re: [TowerTalk] Which feedline to use

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Which feedline to use
From: Grant Saviers <grants2@pacbell.net>
Date: Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:09:39 -0700
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
The TFE augmented pulling grease was found at McMasterCarr, not that 
much more expensive as we used just less than one quart, and  it sounded 
like good insurance as we expected problems.  It went easier than we 
expected, so maybe it helped.  Having folks available to keep the wires 
clean and feed them straight without twist also helped a lot.  Only one 
wire was available spool fed.

All wires were pulled at once, I don't think any other way works for 
this length.  We did taper in the wires over about 3' and used woven 
nylon flat pull tape and lots of grease periodically during the pull.  
To prelube the Nycoil the pilot line pulled a bunched up plastic bag 
with lots of grease on it when we pulled in the stronger pull tape .

I'd be tempted to use flex poly pipe (e.g. well or irrigation pipe) for 
underground runs, if it can be tied or buried flat for the pull.  Why 
have joints?

b.t.w. the Wil-Burt rep suggested we feed the Nycoil into 70' of hard 
conduit, 3 or 4", I don't remember.  After we received the Nycoil, the 
memory seemed so strong that I couldn't imagine pushing the Nycoil into 
that conduit, or that it might turn the whole sheebang into a slinky!  
We counted the turns around the mast of the old Nycoil and after the new 
one was stretched out for the better part of a warm day, it's memory 
returned as 15 of 19 turns, so we easily cranked in the missing 4 
turns.  This stuff is tough.

Grant
KZ1W


> Did you pull the whole bundle through as a unit or pull the cables
> through one at a time?  I like your fence idea.  I should have
> done that when I pulled wires through 200 feet of plastic flexible
> conduit.  Is TFE pulling grease different than the ordinary stuff
> they sell at hardware stores?  Where do you get it?  Is it a lot
> better?
>
> One time I got the "bright" idea to pull RG58 coax into cheap
> poly drip irrigation tubing to make it "critter" proof.
> After spending hours with various techniques, I gave up.
> The stuff wants to curl up and kink, and it is amazing the amount of
> friction that even 100 feet of it has.
>
> Rick N6RK
>
>   
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