Ladder Line Construction

[Dale Atchley]

Some of you may have already tried this but it worked so well I thought I would pass it along. I became frustrated with the 82 ft run of 450 ohm ladder line I have for my Zepp at 80 ft. The wind destroys it in a month. I obtained some 1/2 inch water pipe (pvc) at the hardware store. The wall thickness measures .09 inches and the pipe is beige in color and rated at 180 degrees F. (standard stuff). I cut it into 3 inch sections with a pipe cutter. I then drilled holes about an eighth inch from the ends all the way through. The hole was just large enough to slip my copper-clad steel 14 guage wire through it with a little push. I then stretched out two parallel 84 ft runs of the copper clad and slipped the spacers over the wires spaced evenly every 3 feet. I then put a single blob of solder on the wire where it was accessible in the ends of all  the spacers. This effectively keeps the spacers from sliding along the wire.  The wind is blowing like crazy here and that ladder line does not move nor does it make howling noises and shake the house. The zepp tuned up fb. The line has an impedance of around 550 ohms. Ladder Line and CW forever! 
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