The only issue would be when it rains and/or it turns into ice it will short across both wires if the wire is not insulated.
Now that's a good point...
Is it the added CAPACITANCE that the ice or water adds that makes openwire change characteristic impedance or will the DC short of ice/water make a difference with bare wire? The reason I axe is I thought water (aside from acid rain) did not conduct well - it was the minerals in the water that made it conductive. Maybe the stray minerals sitting on the spreaders and bare wire make a big difference when they mix.
I guess my question is, how much is the effect from capacitance (which would affect insulated wire too) vs: the effect from actual contact with the bare wires?
I remember having a dipole on Nantucket and had to spray it down every few days due to the shorting action of the salt spray. It was that bare openwire stuff with the little white insulators. Salt is an extreme case of course. I wonder how it wud have been if the wire was insulated?
T