Wednesday, May 8, 2019

The best rope to support wire antennas


You might be able to get away with something cheap for a temporary portable antenna, but for something more permanent then the type of rope you suitable for portable antennas becomes important. Cheap rope frays, rots, disintegrates in the sun and snaps (personal experience speaking!). It's worth paying a bit more for good rope if it means that your antenna stays up for longer. 

The Radioworks site has a summary of the characteristics of synthetic rope materials. In summary, polyester (Dacron) and Kevlar (with a jacket) are good.

Here's some more thoughts on support ropes for antennas:

* 5 page QRZ forum thread
* A similar thread on eHam
* Discussion hosted by K5ZD

What antenna support rope do you use? What's succeeded and what's failed? Your comments are invited below.

PS: The items below may assist your experiments.  They are affiliate links meaning that I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you decide to purchase.

    

2 comments:

  1. Normal DIY shop nylon cord fails in the end, but good for occasional portable use. For permanent use I have chainsaw starter rope, very thin (2,6mm) it is enforced with aramide (same as Kevlar and Twaron). Some of these cords are already supporting antennas (inverted-V) for over 6 years here. 73, Bas

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  2. I use steel cable for my permanent wire antenna installations. Separated from the antenna by ceramic insulators, of course. No worries about fraying, snapping, or weathering. KD8ZM

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