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Scrounging and Hording copper wire....

WX2MIG

WX2MIG

Still Alive & Well
Dec 10, 2008
730
5
28
39° 19' 23" N X 74° 36' 30" W
Looking forward to the day I get an HF rig in the shack, I'll also be spending much time experimenting with wire antenna construction. Dipoles and random wire arrangements are first on my list, so copper wire being the main ingredient, I've been scrounging and hording some #14-3 & #12-3 electric cable.
Today while at work, I had a few hours of down time uninterupted by pesky emergency calls, so I stripped my wire down to individual strands. Got a few fairly long lengths of approx 80', and a few around 30'.

Ground wire, ground radials if I ever get an HF vertical, and some solid #14 for a dipole or two......(y)

Anybody here ever use solid copper wire for antenna building....?

Anything special I need to know......?
 

Yeah, bring the same patience for building a dipole - that you did when you built the J-pole. Since we are both beginners, we know it is a learning situation. I think I would do a 10-40 meter Windom dipole with ladder line, just to keep the cost down in case you need to tear it all down and start again. Nice job on the J-pole; are you going to submit the final working design here on WWRF? Summarize? Thanks N2ITH.
 
Naw man, you're missing the boat with them wire antennas. You start with the lowest band, then trim it till it's right. If you go to far, no problem! Keep trimming and you can use it on the next higher band. See? There are ten bands, you got ten chances. What more can you ask for?
- 'Doc
 
Haw Haw Hee - Doc!
Yeah, we'll both start with a 160 meter dipole antenna and slowly whittle it all the way dow to ten meters untill we get it right!
Is this the 'fun' of Ham radio that I've heard so much about!?!?
lol!
 
you can run the wire inside pvc pipe to keep it verticle or horozontal . use thick wall s40 .
 
74IN,
Oooooo, gotta be careful! Doing all that 'folding' makes people think you're talking about a 'folded dipole'. It can get confusing after a while.


Rob,
You going to stop at 10 meters? There are a few other bands higher than that! Of course, you gotta start doing that trimming with a file instead of a pair of wire cutters. Probably why you don't see many antennas for them higher bands. Then again, they're small enough I'm not sure I'd see'em anyway.

- 'Doc
 
N2ITH said:
Looking forward to the day I get an HF rig in the shack, I'll also be spending much time experimenting with wire antenna construction. Dipoles and random wire arrangements are first on my list, so copper wire being the main ingredient, I've been scrounging and hording some #14-3 & #12-3 electric cable.
Today while at work, I had a few hours of down time uninterupted by pesky emergency calls, so I stripped my wire down to individual strands. Got a few fairly long lengths of approx 80', and a few around 30'.

Ground wire, ground radials if I ever get an HF vertical, and some solid #14 for a dipole or two......(y)

Anybody here ever use solid copper wire for antenna building....?

Anything special I need to know......?
Click to expand...

I once used some #4 hard drawn , to make the elements
for a 3 element cubical quad for 2 mtrs
if i remember i scrounged it from some old utility poles
that were laying by a dumpster , as they were replacing
these poles as they relocated a line ,
this was when copper was cheap
worked fine , i used 3/4 cpvc for the boom and spreaders
and put wooden dowels inside the cpvc to stiffen it ,
and used caps to keep moisture out
the booms and spreaders got old and brittle from uv
and i still had the elements as of a couple of years ago
but alas , ive lost them now

12 and 14 gauge solid works fine for dipoles , but it can and will
stretch and break over time ,stranded is better !
dont worry about stripping stranded , it wontmake much difference
atall in the final performance of the antenna

Fence wire works good too, and its cheap,plentiful, and strong
"wont stretch "
just dont put your finger inside the metal spool when you unroll it :cry:

R
 
I think my first project with some of this wire will be to build a grounding system for the shack, but I can accomplish that task with other shorter strands I already had.
I want to make a sort of bus bar out of 1/2" copper pipe ran under the two shelves holding my radios, then run individual ground leads to the bar. I'll then run a lead from the bus bar out to the ground rod I have the antenna connected to.

That just might be my project for today......;)
 
Wire Antennas

Greetings All: I have a rare morning off. I am waiting for the 3865 group to get on this day thought I might add just my experience (not expertise) of a year or two(LOL) constructing some home-brew wire antennas.

The best all around wire antennas I have had up for multi-band use over the years is one of the simplest ones to build. The very popular Double Zepp.

The Double Zepp has been called the Doublet, also a center feed dipole and maybe a few more. They are just variations I think of the original antenna dating as far back the 1920/30's.
I have used just about every combination of wire size and type and feed-line type. They have all worked well (some better than others) but made many contacts on all.
My preferences on feed-lines:
1. 450 ohm stranded copper-weld #14 or #16 gauge Ladder Line.
I have found this the most durable and best over the long term. This type can be a little harder to twist due to the copper-clad steel construction and requires more heat to make solder connections. I have found with practice it has proven the extra effort over the long term.
2. TV twin lead/foam type 300 ohm. This can be purchase at many places, Radio Shack sells this for $10-20 or less for a coil of 100ft. This is very easy to work with and solder connections are quick and fairly strong. This type does not strip easily but a butane lighter and melting the ends works pretty well and seals the ends for you.
I have run Legal Limit through both with no problem. The 450 line type can handle about anything you can throw at it.

The Double Zepp can be run "Flat Top", inverted "V", and bent to fit your space. They can be 10ft off the ground or as high as you can "getter" up.
The length of the elements can be cut to what ever freq you want to use with the age old 468/freq (in MHz) or the 472/ if your "Flat Topping".
The length is not really critical, just something close works well with a tuner.
The length of 126ft feed at the center(63ft) each side works great for 80mtr's to 6mtr's. Then you can work 160mtr's also by shorting the twin lead together and feeding as a random wire at the shack.
I am going to say hello to the 3865 group...
More Later
All the Best
BJ
 
More Wire Antenna Thoughts

Following up on earlier.
I have used in construction of the elements many types of wire. The includes from small magnet wire #24...#26 gauge enamel coated(stealthy hard for locals to see) to #10 solid copper building wire.
I like solid #14 to #10. Yes a little harder to work with and takes good rope(Dacron w/Nylon core) or my FAV...Dacron w/ Kevlar core.
I have found over time stranded building wire will stretch and stress at connection points. Though stranded is more flexible and generally easier to come by, over the long haul solid has worked best for me.

I once made a dipole for my "Elmer" for 75mtr's out of #12 solid with 5/8ths thick Lexan insulators.
He wanted it "Bullet Proof".
I am sorry to say I did to good of a job. A good old Midwest storm came through and dropped many branches off his trees. I had mounted the center insulator on a pulley on the top of his tower about 40+ft up and secured the ends in those trees. Well the tree branch I hooked to about 30ft up to support one end broke... between the Kevlar rope and the solid wire...it pulled the tower down!!!!
The antenna never broke!!!
Boy was that a Bummer!!!
Well that's OK the insurance co. blamed the storm and not my antenna. He got a NEW tower and a couple of new antennas....WHEW!

The Extended Double Zepp is considered by many Hams to be the best true multi-band antenna made from wire...due to building cost, the wide variety of materials that can be used, ease of construction and most important performance.

Yes you need a decent tuner(I prefer a manual type) but overall depending on your power range (let's say 200 watts)...Hamfest prices from $40 for your typical 300w MFJ version are pretty common.
I have made them (PI-network) plus a home-made Balun for even less.
I will post a diagram of my present wire beast just to show all again how truly nuts I can get with good old wire!:D...Geezz I can go on!(y)
All the Best
BJ
 

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