Building Ham Radio Antennas with Copper Clad Aluminum Wire!?

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Күн бұрын

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@BigJohnsHamShack 2 ай бұрын

Another banger. I have to be honest I have never used copper clad wire, not saying I would or wouldn't, just haven't. Thanks for the content!

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for checking out the video Big John

@robertmeyer4744 2 ай бұрын

Great information. I use CCA speaker wire for testing antenna ideas and a cheap set of ground radials for a temp antenna or portable, I find over time the UV makes the jacket fall apart and it will stretch. But works quite well .I got a park to park . NY to UK on 10 meters with 25ft into a 4:1 and shortened end to tune. below 1.5 SWR and was made with speaker wire up DX commander 10 pole . and was with 50 watts from a QT 60 on battery . Other park had end fed half wave .on battery as well. Wire to wire across the Atlantic. I say CCA wire can work great . I did cut a piece of Pink all copper antenna wire from DX engineering for further use after testing . High vis 14 AWG copper. The best all weather wire I found is DX commander DX 50 wire. that a all copper braid over Kevlar core. very strong and does not stretch. Best from England . Made for british military . 73

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Because I make videos, I will often make a quick antenna that might get used for a few weeks and then packed up to only make an occasional appearance. I sleep fine at night knowing they are made from CCA.

@robertmeyer4744 2 ай бұрын

@@TheSmokinApe The park to park was CCA walmart speaker wire from NY to England ! I sleep with a sime ! I got some 8 AWG solid mag wire for that big toroide you got. it is square wire with coating. Should do 1.5 KW ! LOL

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

LOL at 8 AWG

@respectbossmon 2 ай бұрын

I recall during corrosion prevention courses in the USAF we were taught never to directly connect copper and aluminum because the dissimilar metals would form a small electric current between them. That's why it's called galvanic corrosion. It doesn't need exposure to water or salty air to happen. It will happen in a vacuum. I wonder if the manufacturers have figured out a method that prevents this (or they're counting on a built-in obsolescence).

@oldfartonabmx2122 2 ай бұрын

That was my first thought. It's the reason Mercury outboard motors use low copper aluminium.

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the info RBM 👍

@wrenchmonkey3920 2 ай бұрын

very much so in the hvac world. I just do the grunt work but we do a ton of corrosion testing in my lab.

@KK6USYHamRadioAdventures 2 ай бұрын

I have used CCA a lot over the years for testing and also for ground radials. Thanks Ape!!

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Yeah, I do the radial thing often, thanks for watching Chuck 👍

@richardl6751 2 ай бұрын

I'm glad you also mentioned copper-clad steel.

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

THanks Richard!

@philmaxwell1858 2 ай бұрын

Some years ago, I bought a spool of wire for a catv related project. I thought it was solid copper, but I was very wrong. It was CCA wire and it worked well for some time. With humidity and limited movement due to environmental issues, the system started to have problems. I chased them down and attributed it to oxidation on the copper. Then the wires started to break, and I saw the aluminum core. Given the time, effort and frustration, I am more careful in the purchase choice of wire. The label can be unclear or intentionally misleading. Good comprehensive and unbiased presentation of the facts. As I've said before, you are indeed a Great Ape, with knowledge and pleasing presentation skills!

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the comment Phil, and for watching 👍

@bassangler73 2 ай бұрын

Been busy, brother. I'm trying to catch up on your vids! I have no issues with CCW, especially here in tornado alley..We don't have a Tornado come through the back yard all the time but they do get close, so we get a lot of high winds from the t- storms and the flexibility of CCW works great..

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Hey BA 👍

@MrThisIsMeToo 2 ай бұрын

Sometimes CCA is difficult to identify. Best trick is to strip a piece and put a flame to it (i.e. from a lighter). If it starts to sizzle/crackler a little bit like a weak sparkler it is CCA.

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Didn't know you could do that

@DavidJohnstone-hi9kr 2 ай бұрын

I have been using various wire antennas for over 50 years. Living in Connecticut we get winter storms which ice up everything outside, including antennas. In recent years, I see more and more using various types house wiring wire, including on commercial made antennas. I'm still very much old school using the difficult to work with, copper-clad steel antenna wire. But that's me. WB1COB

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Hey David, thanks for watching 👍

@StuartM0TTQAmateurRadio 2 ай бұрын

Great video. Coincides very much with my own experience. Be especially carefully of CCA loudspeaker wire in antennas, one it starts corroding you end up with green dust very quickly!

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

The dreaded green dust! Thanks for watching Stuart 👍

@gtrs4ever 2 ай бұрын

What are other options, and other wire and gage recommendations? In aviation they use breakaway copper wire to keep switches or handles from being opened, that were only used for emergency purposes.

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

I will do more "wire" videos in the future...

@gtrs4ever 2 ай бұрын

Great information! I’m still learning.

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

What's crazy about Ham Radio is that we are all still learning 👍

@geirha75 2 ай бұрын

Any chance you can make a test on those, pass through flat coaxial cables. Loses and swr measurements + conclusions.

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Yeah, just need to get my hands on one of them. I’ll ask around 👍

@billbrown3414 2 ай бұрын

Working in industry, I often had access to lots of scrap #12 or #10 THHN stranded copper wire. Now I’m retired, and my stockpile is depleted. I have considered CCA, and I covered most of your concerns. My main concern is not knowing whether CCA is copper clad or just plated. Finding a chart showing RF penetration is pretty easy, so determining what frequencies stay within the copper is also easy. The corrosion resistance became my greatest concern. Currently, I’m not looking for wire: I found several hundred feet of #10 THHN stranded at a yard sale. A good bit of it is now in the air-and has worn out several ropes… tough stuff if you can tolerate the weight.

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Hey Bill, I actually just picked up some THHN, haven't tried it yet.

@hughpatterson1480 2 ай бұрын

Great Video, and very informative! I use CCA wire because of long runs for my random wire antennas that are often coupled to branches that might not take the weight of pure copper or steel cored wire. I get great results. I'm able to DX every place in the world using a 20 watt Xeigu G90. However, CCA will stretch very easily. I do regular inspections and replace the wire every 12-18 months, which isn't a big deal since I have a pully system for raising and lowering the two ends of the horizontal antenna. On my vertical antennas, I use pure copper because the lengths are shorter. CCA is inexpensive but requires more maintenance. These videos are extremely helpful because they provide everything you need to know should you consider using this type of wire. Thanks again for the video...73...Hugh...KN6KNB

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

I had an EFHW that I had to trim like twice a year from stretching. I'm glad you like the videos Hugh 👍

@HayesSalley 2 ай бұрын

Im getting ready to build a 80 meter doublet antenna. I am curious as to whether some 4 strand, solid copper phone wire i have tons of will be adequate of if I should spend the $ to buy some stranded wire. I will be attaching the wire to a support rope so it wont have to bear the strain of holding its considerable length. Your thoughts would be appreciated. Andy W4JVI

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Hey Hayes. So we know that RF travels on the outer surface, stranded has more outer surface than solid, I'd use stranded if it was in the budget.

@MrMudsHamRadioTime 2 ай бұрын

Great explanation. I wish you were speaking at my training this past week, I probably would have stayed awake. Now what about CCA stranded? 😂. See you at the next one. ☝️

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

I wish I was there too 🍻

@RazorStrap 2 ай бұрын

How thick is the copper clad? How deep is the skin effect at target frequency? 30 mHz, 500 mHz, etc. One of the problems with copper though is oxidation. It will cause the antenna elements to be electrically long compared to clean bare copper. Aluminum oxidation on the other does not change the electrical length as much as copper oxidation because aluminum oxidation is a better insulator than copper oxidation. One might coat clean bare copper with paraffin wax to inhibit oxidation.

@WECB640 2 ай бұрын

For those who don't know, there is good reason why the elder hams used "phosphor-bronze" wire for their HF antennas. It is super strong and lasts longer than most rigs do. One needs to know the amount of copper that is coated on the wire. I have noticed over the decades that manufacturers are using about half as much copper on their antenna wire with steel core being the worst type. I would not recommend Cu coated Al for anything other than a temporary deployment, and even then, I would suggest using a support rope for the entire length of the span to handle the weight. Al wire is soft and will fail if either support moves. I use solid 12ga copper wire from a large spool for my HF antennas. Never had one break. I use wire nuts to connect the wire and these are cheap as chips and work perfectly. Tried soldering once (you can't do that with aluminum wire) and it failed at that connection in 6 months. Just my $0.02 of experience. Hope it helps someone. 73

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Hey Hollywood, thank you for the info. I'm not advocating that folks abandon proven antenna practices, I am trying to help people understand that they can use CCA but certain factors need to be considered.

@WECB640 2 ай бұрын

@@TheSmokinApe Exactly. Glad you're exploring and offering alternatives. It's all good and we need to experiment more with what will antenna and what won't. 73 OM

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

👍

@zero_G.0 2 ай бұрын

Hey Ape, I use Davis RF Poly-Stealth High Strength antenna wire, it’s a CCS 19 strand insulated with UV resistant polyethylene comes in 4 sizes #13, 18, 22, 26 check it out 😎

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

I love that stuff and use it for all my "permanent" installs 👍

@zero_G.0 2 ай бұрын

@@TheSmokinApe 👍🏼

@mikeZL3XD7029 2 ай бұрын

Hi Ape, Thanks for this video. I had not considered using CCA wire for an antenna installation and personally I would tend to steer away from something like this. Not that it is a bad idea at all, but most of my experiences with aluminium conductors have not been good ones. Aluminium as a metal (yes I know it is an alloy) is one of the most reactive metals around when placed with other metals and is also the reason why chemical treatment pastes like NoAlox (sp?) were invented. One of the things that turns me away from this "metal" is that it suffers badly from metal fatigue when bent more than a few times, which could happen if you live somewhere that experiences a lot of strong winds. This is not a criticism of you Ape, I just hate Aluminium.

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Hey Mike, I don't take your comment as criticism at all, thank you for posting it... I'm not saying that folks should use CCA, rather you can if you understand the nuance around it. Thanks for watching 👍

@Thump2030 2 ай бұрын

Whenever I use copper clad aluminum wire outside it rots to nothing but the CCA steel wire (polystealth) has held up great.

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Yeah, prolly not the best choice for long term.

@bill-2018 2 ай бұрын

I used some as earthing wire and it corroded. Yes, it was in direct contact with soil. I would expect it to do the same over time.with atmospheric rain and air pollution. Could it be wrapped around an aerial insulator without cracking? I'd say don't use it. G4GHB.

@TheSmokinApe 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the comment Bill 👍