Characteristics & Suitability of 12.5 Gage Aluminum Electric Fence Wire as Antenna Wire

This photo was taken during some recent aluminum antenna wire tests at the Salt Lake City receiving site. A long length of 12.5 gage aluminum fence wire was connected near the top of one these 100 foot (30 meter) high trees. This photo shows the amount of curl in the wire with 3 lbs of applied tension (measured by a spring gage). 30 to 40 lbs of wire tension was required to remove most of the curl even though the wire had been carefully unreeled to minimize curl. Despite this problem aluminum antenna wire has important advantages that will be explained in a pending website article.

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