Homemade ladder line

[WZ7U]

OK, whose made it and what did you use for the spreaders? Details man! Give us the skinny on how you did it, why you did it that way and what did you use. Inquiring minds yada yada yada. C'mon, give it up!

[WZ7U]

The whole reason I brought it up was the thread over yonder where I started busting a guys balls for apparently not doing his own research which led to a moment of inflection on my part which caused me to do some of my own research which led to a slew of web bookmarks which has rekindled my interest in making my own ladderline. Of course I'm a cheap bastard, so making vs buying is appealing. Hence, this thread.

So, what have you done about homebrewing ladderline?

[AC8UN]

The most interesting method I have seen Eric involved cheep ink pens minus the guts and zip ties, but I have never had the need for any yet so I have no practical experience.

[WZ7U]

I saw that you tube too. I thought it was weird but effective. Can't bring myself to waste that many pens, even if I'm all about repurposing stuff.

[Juan Largo]

I only made an open wire line once. When I was in college I worked at Santa Ana Electronics in Santa Ana, CA. We used to sell wholesale to the public so had a lot of product lines. The Birnbach company made 6" ceramic insulators that worked very well with hard drawn #12 solid wire. Using one insulator every three feet took 33 insulators to make 100 feet of line. Fortunately they were only about six bucks a dozen so I got three dozen. The line worked extremely well with my Johnson Matchbox and I ran a 135 foot flat top on 80 and 40 meters.

The antenna came down in a storm about a year later and I put it back up but used 450 ohm window line, honestly, I could not tell any difference since the losses on 100 feet of line were really low anyway. I don't know what happened to the old insulators, they got lost somewhere between moves along with a bunch of other stuff.

I can't see building balanced feedline these days mainly because it is a PIA but also, ladder line in 450 and 300 ohms is cheap and plentiful. For runs around 300 feet or less, the difference in line loss on HF between open wire line and ladder line is practically negligible. The only reason I can see for constructing such a line would be for impedance matching for a wire array, or a very long run of say 500 feet or more.

[W1TRY]

I have about 3000 to 4000 feet of 18 gauge Teflon coated hookup wire that I've been eyeballing for using SOMEWHERE. I'm thinking of using some to feed a 160 meter loop with about a 50 foot run of ladderline and if it works, great, if not, no loss. I know it's really too small a gauge, but I was also looking at different spreader options out there to even experiment. The inkpen tubes is an interesting concept, but I can't help but think there's something FAR more cost effective and common out there.

[Juan Largo]

I have about 3000 to 4000 feet of 18 gauge Teflon coated hookup wire that I've been eyeballing for using SOMEWHERE. I'm thinking of using some to feed a 160 meter loop with about a 50 foot run of ladderline and if it works, great, if not, no loss. I know it's really too small a gauge, but I was also looking at different spreader options out there to even experiment. The inkpen tubes is an interesting concept, but I can't help but think there's something FAR more cost effective and common out there.

I was going to suggest wooden dowel rods cut in 3 or 4 inch sections, and CA glue but it won't stick to Teflon. If you can find a way to secure the wire to the wood it is a pretty cheapo way to do it. You have to use insulated wire though or you will have to dip all of the spacers in varnish to keep them dry.

[KD8DEY]

Never had to make my own. I Had a Spi-ro AS-2 that came with ladder line that I replaced with a Balun and Coax...

I was in Dayton at the time. There is a place there on First street that sold all kinds of junk, Including toobs, and various hobby related stuff on the 2nd floor.
They gad tons of ladder line, coax etc pretty cheap by the foot.
you would have to stop in, or call and ask for their electronics on the 2nd floor, since the good stuff isnt listed on their web site..
The City has been interested in the property, So I don't know how much longer they will be around...

Mendelsons :iquidation Outlet

[AG5CK]

I did mine with 4 inch electric fence insulators and zip ties. They're cheaper in bulk packages.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/produ ... _vc=-10005

20161117_091408.jpg (4.6 MiB) Viewed 1833 times

I just realized it's 2021 and this thread is really old.

[KD8DEY]

not hardly anybody around to notice....