Does guage matter?

[K6JEK]

I have a source for some gorgeous antenna wire at the right price, phosphor bronze, many stranded, insulated. This is surplus from a company that put up antennas for our government.

I think it's #16 or maybe even #18. It's strong as the dickens and flexible. It must have 20 tiny strands, the tiny strands forming bigger strands.

75M loop is the destination, ladder line to a Matchbox. Does it matter that it's only #18 or #16?

[Steve - K4HX]

No.

[W7TFO]

Steve's right.  In your case, it doesn't matter.

I've seen #14 hard-drawn handle 10 kW AM easily in dipole, "V", and rhombic form.

It would only be a factor in balanced OWL , as the diameter factors in.

73DG

[KA2DZT]

Antennas made with thin elements have less bandwidth than antennas made with thicker elements.

Also antennas with thicker wire will resonant somewhat lower in frequency.  Check, length to diameter ratio it's in the Handbook.

Fred

[W2VW]

Antennas made with thin elements have less bandwidth than antennas made with thicker elements.

Also antennas with thicker wire will resonant somewhat lower in frequency.  Check, length to diameter ratio it's in the Handbook.

Fred

Gnat's hind end between 10 and 18 gauge H.F.

Besides he doesn't need wide bandwidth as there's a conjugate match planned.

[KA0HCP]

In discussion on other boards, I've seen diagrams posted by engineers showing that any gauge down to 28AWG is fine and has little effect on performance.

[K6JEK]

Thanks for all the answers, guys. I'm going with it.

[KA2DZT]

Antennas made with thin elements have less bandwidth than antennas made with thicker elements.

Also antennas with thicker wire will resonant somewhat lower in frequency.  Check, length to diameter ratio it's in the Handbook.

Fred

Gnat's hind end between 10 and 18 gauge H.F.

Besides he doesn't need wide bandwidth as there's a conjugate match planned.

My statements are correct, but not much to worry about in the lower HF bands.  I didn't consider any matching network, just referring to the antenna elements.

Dave

[w7fox]

The National Electric Code doesn't allow wire that thin, if it matters.  Good luck.

[W2VW]

I see a 2.3% hum on yer post Fred.

[K1JJ]

For the curious...

From my observations over the years, I've found that bare stranded copper wire tends to deteriorate much faster than a solid, single copper wire of the same overall diameter.

Imagine a few mm of rot/corrosion  having a big effect on a very thin wire. But a few mm of rot barely affects a large diameter wire, just the surface.

As an extreme example, I've had up some of that Flex weave stuff with 170? stands.  I didn't like the looks of it after a few years. Almost impossible to resolder.  

In contrast, I still have some bare solid copper wire still in service after 25 years.  The  Tim-Tron has up a solid #8 wire? dipole that once was hung in the salt air at Rock Port. He has that same dipole at his Maine location 40+ years later.

How does phosphor bronze compare to copper for longevity?  Never tried it here. Must be good stuff if that antenna company used it for the gov't installations.

T

[Steve - K4HX]

phosphor bronze

They make guitar strings with it too.

[KA0HCP]

"Ernie Ball Dipoles"   the new line for 2013.....

[ka4koe]

I won't allow anything smaller than #12 AWG THHN/THWN @ 20A on any of my designs.

[Steve - K4HX]

Puts a new spin on tuning your antenna.

"Ernie Ball Dipoles"   the new line for 2013.....

[steve_qix]

Whether a long outdoor antenna will survive with thin wire is more a matter of the local environment than anything else.

Around here, in New England with occasional very high winds, occasional ice storms, etc. a thin antenna would break.  I use #10 solid copper, and the wire that's up there is more than 30 years old.

Up at Rattlesnake Island, where the weather can get really nasty wind-wise when the big t-storms come up, I use the same wire type, and so far so good.

Tom, I have also observed that solid wire lasts much longer than similarly sized stranded wire.