RD>> It seems that antennas were never designed to stand up to the
 RD>> winters we get.
 HG> What's so special about your winters?
 Nothing much other than they seem to be more windy and freezing rain prone 
than they have been in the past.
 With several major industries to the south of us ( northern US ) most rain 
and snowfall is mildly acidic in nature in my area so antennas do tend to 
`die' rather early if they are made out of fibre-glass or bare copper wire.
 My aluminum antennas are over 6 years old and survive nicley with a little 
normal cleaning every two or three years.
 RD>> Makes me wonder what the guys up north of me do for antennas.
 HG> Well here on the Aland Islands (60 deg N, 20 deg E) I worked DXCC on
 HG> 80m SSB with a W3DZZ made up with HyGain traps and center isolator.
 HG> The wire used was 1/8" copper wire and anticorrosive putty at the
 HG> trap joints 'cause they were aluminium.
 Sounds good for working from there Holger.
 HG> The antenna worked perfectly all 15 years it was up.It was only taken
 HG> down because I changed QTH. Instead I now use a W0WO (Windom fed with
 HG> 50 ohm coax and 1:6 balun). It has now been up 12 years.
 RD>> I think I'll throw together a multi-band dipole instead and spray
 RD>> the stranded wire with a clear coat laquer and see how long it
 RD>> lasts.
 HG> Why use stranded wire in the first place?  And using clear laquer is
 HG> not recommended where there's UV-radiation (like sunshine). Black is
 HG> better (beautiful?).
 Stranded wire for me is easier to obtain and cheaper as well by the foot or
metre than solid cunductor wire.
 Most any electrical supply house has solid wire but charge twice the cost of 
stranded wire so I choose stranded over solid to save some money.
 As for the clear-coat idea it is for a test only,and will only cover about 
10 feet of each leg of the inverted V dipole.
 I may paint the wire with a non-metalic finish later and see how it holds up 
over a winter and summer before I paint the whle antenna.
 What type of paint do you use on your antenna?
 Is it a commonly available brand name or mixture?
--- GoldED 2.42.G1219
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