A follow-up to Good wire for wire antenna?
I'm QRT at present - thanks to fooling around with just a couple of diodes and PVC capacitors instead of a well-regulated supply. The antenna I used earlier was a mono-bander inverted-vee for 20M. I may be able to get a 40M inverted-vee, possibly even a 40M dipole on the premises but the lower bands are out of the question ... which is where I'd like to try out sometime.
I'm toying with the idea of an end-fed catenary held aloft. Perhaps a weather balloon, or two may provide the necessary lift capacity. A relative rigid wire such as the SWG16/14/12 might puncture the balloon though, and prove a difficult lift to boot. The rig I used (on loan from an elmer) is capable of 20W. On the 160 though I'd like to try no more than 5W.
To the best of my knowledge there is no restriction on gauge hereabouts (VU), as there may be in other parts of the world.
Given the constraints
- QRP
- Antenna wire flexibility
Assuming the antenna may be reasonably matched
What guage wire can I use without the wire itself giving up the ghost on Tx?