[IRCA] 18-20 gauge stratnded, insulated wire

[amdxer@xxxxxxxx]

By copying and pasting the links below they do open up to
a photo of typical stranded 18 or 20 gauge insulated wire.

As Mark DeLorenzo mentioned it should be available at the
local big box store such as Menards or Home Depot.

Stranded wire will be more flexible than with strands
tinned/soldered together.

Tom Jasinski
Joliet, IL
..............................................................
Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2017 12:06:20 -0500
From: Mark Pettifor <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: IRCA List <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [IRCA] Antenna wire

Greetings and a happy new year to all!

I have some antenna wire that a DXing friend of mine
(Chuck Mitchell,
WB9NWF, from Carmel IN, S.K.) got ahold of back in the
80s. It's STILL
working well, and I've not found a better wire, and over
time the longer
pieces keep getting used and reused and shortened, and I'd
like to
acquire more just like it, if I can. After decades of use,
the markings
on the insulation have faded away, so I don't know the
manufacturer,
type, gauge, etc. I have a link to some pics I took and
was wondering if
anyone could help with figuring out what exactly kind of
wire it is, and
where I might find some like it.

The wire is either 18 or 20 gauge, and is of type
"overcoated" stranded.
That is, there are 7 bare copper conductors, probably
around 30 gauge,
wrapped together with a slight twist (6 around a center
7th), and they
are "tinned" with some kind of overcoating to make it
appear like a
single conductor. The first two links show what it looks
like:

spacetubes.com/IMAG0072.jpg
spacetubes.com/IMAG0074.jpg

I cut a piece of it off the end, and it came apart, and
you can see the
solid bare copper wires inside, and also the coating (made
of an unknown
material, but it's a lot like some kind of solder) in this
photo:

spacetubes.com/IMAG0078.jpg.

Note that this is NOT the same as coated copper wire which
is then
stranded together.

The insulation is most likely PVC(?), as it is still
pliable and not all
brittle and cracked, even after being outdoors for years
and years.

Any ideas what kind of wire it is? Or does anyone know
where I could
send a sample for analysis, to find out the exact type it
is, so I can
order the same kind?

Wire is wire, eh? Well, I can't explain it, but there's
just something
about this wire's electrical properties that makes it
perform better
than any other wire I've used.

Thanks for any help or direction!

Best regards,

Mark Pettifor
Goshen, IN
KC9DOC








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