Copperweld antenna wire

[Knightt150]

Sorry to be so much trouble here but after calling AES and all my sources they just ask what is COPPERWELD wire for antenns. I need a place to buy 18gauge copperweld antenna wire. I dont use copper wire coated or otherwise (it changes with temperature). I need about 60ft or so, plus clear 3" glass antenna insulators. I can get the insulators on ebay but I dont need 10 of them only one .

John W9BFO

[w8khk]

"The Wireman" has what you need:

http://www.thewireman.com/antennap.html

18 AWG solid copper-clad steel (30%). The most economical and versatile antenna wire. Strong enough for any HF dipole (break strength 280 pounds) and as light and easy to use as stranded. Popular for loops, curtains, long wires, counterpoise and experimental. Not to be confused with the 'quarter-mile reel' or 'bargain', which is usually low percentage copper, single-season electric fence wire, or the like.

$.07 per foot, short orders.
$.06 per foot, 100' +
less if you buy larger quantities.

I have ordered from the wireman on several occasions, always happy with the service and product.

I am sure there are other suppliers too.

[k4kyv]

The single season stuff is lucky to even last through a season.  It is steel wire with a minuscule coat of copper plating, and when exposed to the elements, begins to rust through almost immediately.  This stuff is to copperweld what cheap retail-store zinc plated hardware is to real hot dipped galvanised.

35% copperweld is also useful for making air core coils and links.  Although hard to work with, if it is reasonably well mechanically supported, it is practically indestructible and won't bend out of shape from normal handling when used to make plug-in coils.

[WA1GFZ]

copperweld sucks go to home depot and pick up some solid copper.

[WV Hoopie]

Copperweld is a toss up. Depends on the type of air polution at ur QTH. In the Ohio Valley near steel mills and coal fired power plants, copperweld lated one year. Crap in the air ate the coating, rust took care of the steel core.

Didn't take long for me to switch to solid copper, lasts for years.

wd8kdg
craig

[N2DTS]

I have got stuff from the wireman, its good stuff, but the copperweld stuff I got was very stiff, and after a year looked kind of bad but was not rusty.
I get free wire at work and use #10 insulated stranded wire without any problems.

I got spools of #6, kind of heavy for antenna's....

I also got some of the wiremans insulated antenna wire which was REAL nice, strong, light, the insulation looks new after years....

Brett

[WA1GFZ]

Some of my #10 solid has been up since 1983. The only thing that takes it down is pulling it up too tight or a tree coming down over it. It turns brown but doesn't rot.
Insulated wire adds a lot of weight and collects more ice.

[WD8BIL]

...which is usually low percentage copper, single-season electric fence wire, or the like.

I guess a "season" is greater than 10 years. The 75 meter dipole at the hunting camp is 17ga electric fence wire and has been there since 1999. I pulled it down last Oct. to add the 40 meter dipole to the feed point and all looks well.

I guess you need to get real fence wire from a real farm supply.

[Knightt150]

Thanks again to everyone for there efforts and espicelly to W8KHK who went to a lot of trouble  to put me on the right track WIREMAN is the way to go.
You would not get this kind of help from some of the SSBers.

Thanks Again
John W9BFO

[KC4VWU]

I checked my Tractor Supply Co. catalog yesterday and found no mention of Copperweld. All their fencing wire seems to be cheap aluminum junk. My hand me down antenna has had several repairs, but this stuff comes from way back; possibly from the 50's. There was a little extra left in the box of antenna stuff left over, but not anywhere near enough for another antenna run. I could use it for patch material. When you solder to it, it must be very clean using non-acidic paste flux and silver solder. It's a very colorful green and brown, but no rust.

I do have several spools of #14 stranded copper, but with my mentality of  "I will scrap no antenna wire before it's time", I'm going to run with what I have for now.

Phil   

[Mike/W8BAC]

I ran a copper clad steel wire fan dipole antenna for about 10 years only it wasn't called coperweld. It was surplus wire from Ma Bell. The twin lead stuff that they ran from pole to pole and pole to house. I didn't have much money and the copper wire I had would stretch and change the resonate point.

The copper clad steel wire was stripped out of the heavy black jacket and worked very well. It was tough to bend but once made, it didn't stretch. It wasn't until much later I heard of copperweld. The Ma Bell stuff was (is) basically the same but I think the tel-co wire had a bit more copper on it. Best of all, it was free.

Mike

[k4kyv]

Copperweld is a toss up. Depends on the type of air polution at ur QTH. In the Ohio Valley near steel mills and coal fired power plants, copperweld lated one year. Crap in the air ate the coating, rust took care of the steel core.

The #10 stuff I have was taken down from railway right-of-way when they dismantled the old open wire telegraph lines sometimes in the late 60's.  Ma Bell's lines used galvanised steel, but the sulphur-laden smoke from the old steam locomotives corroded it away very quickly.  The copper clad turned green, but the wire stayed up intact for decades.  I suspect the stuff that rusted in a year's time is copper plated wire.  If it is not cheap electric fence wire, I suspect it is constructed just like it.

Copperweld is a brand name, but it has become a generic term for copper clad wire of any manufacture.

[Jim, W5JO]

The #10 stuff I have was taken down from railway right-of-way when they dismantled the old open wire telegraph lines sometimes in the late 60's.  Ma Bell's lines used galvanised steel, but the sulphur-laden smoke from the old steam locomotives corroded it away very quickly.  The copper clad turned green, but the wire stayed up intact for decades.  I suspect the stuff that rusted in a year's time is copper plated wire.  If it is not cheap electric fence wire, I suspect it is constructed just like it.

Copperweld is a brand name, but it has become a generic term for copper clad wire of any manufacture.

BNSF's line between Ada and Mill Springs still has a lot of the old poles along that stretch of track with that type of wire hanging everywhere.  I found a 150 ft. piece laying out in the ditch away from their right-of-way and grabbed it for my 75 meter dipole. 

One of their workman came into a store where I was and we started talking about that stuff.  He tells me that they have hell keeping people from climbing up those poles to get the insulators and will prosecute people on their land if the bosses catch them. 

Not long after that they caught a guy in a small town just over the lake from me burning insulation off copper wire he had taken from some of the poles.  It seems as if  the signaling, code readers and heat sensors are tied to underground fiber optic cables back to HQ.  Some are not and they use insulated copper wire to get back to a node.  This guy had climbed the poles and clipped the wire from over a mile distance.  Got him a over a year in county.

[KC4VWU]

I have some of that telco twinlead also. If you want to separate it, it has to be cut; it won't unzip by pulling. Very tough stuff!

Phil

[W3SLK]

I think that twin lead stuff back in my line construction days was refered to as 'C-line'.

[WD8BIL]

I have some of that telco twinlead also. If you want to separate it, it has to be cut; it won't unzip by pulling. Very tough stuff!

Phil, if you stretch it out between saw horses (or the like) 50' at a time you can pull the wire thru the tough insulation by using a propane torch just ahead of the wire. It don't take much heat to soften the stuff and pull the wire thru.

I guess a paint striping hot air gun would work too.

I checked my Tractor Supply Co. catalog yesterday and found no mention of Copperweld.

Never said it was copperweld but considering the context of the thread I can see where that conclusion could be made.
No, it is just regular old electric fence wire. I've used it for 20 years now with more than satisfactory results.
Now the purists will tell you it's no good. But then again ...... I don't listen to 'em.

$14.00 for a half mile...... now I'm listening!

[k4kyv]

I got my #10 in western KY back in the 70's.  The guy told me they were dismantling the old open wire telegraph lines. There were 10 strands on the line, so they just cut them every 750 ft. or so, took them off the poles and rolled them up in a bundled coil.  He told me to help myself to a bundle or two and it would save them the trouble of having to pick it up.

It wasn't easy.  7500 ft. of  #10 copperweld isn't exactly lightweight.  The guy said all the wire they picked up went to a scrap yard. They probably didn't get much for it.  Even to-day, copper thieves are severely disappointed when they find that what they thought was copper turns out to be copper-clad steel, and worth next to nothing.  So, in the early 70's, they probably had to just about pay the salvage yard to take it.

I should have loaded up several more bundles while I was at it, but couldn't think of a use for that much wire.  It works well for radials.  I used some of it for an inverted L back then, and occasionally I still run across a piece that is still buried.  The copper jacket shows surprisingly little deterioration.

A few years later, I paid $400 (in 1974 dollars) for a 16,000 ft roll of #12 bare soft-drawn.  Picked it up in RI and hauled it all the way down here, where it remained in storage for years until I moved back here and used it for my present radial system.

To-day, the railway companies are probably more paranoid about liability issues than concerned about someone ripping off abandoned telegraph wire.

[WA9UDW]

John,

Here is another source for you to consider:

http://www.daburn.com/2386daburncopperweldwire.aspx

Terry

[N5RLR]

http://www.daburn.com/2386daburncopperweldwire.aspx

Excellent site, Terry.

[N0WEK]

John,

Here is another source for you to consider:

http://www.daburn.com/2386daburncopperweldwire.aspx

Terry

Nice stuff but their minimum quantities are pretty large! 1,000 ft for the copperweld!

Nice spreaders for open wire feed lines.