One of my transmitters uses HV wire salvaged from a military surplus BC-339
(think I recall the name of the rig correctly) that I parted out. It ran a
pair of 833A's CW/RTTY only, with 3-phase power supply, with a tuning range
of something on the order of 4 to 20 mHz. It could easily have been
modified to run 75/80m, and a modulator added. In fact, there is at least
one on the air, converted by Mike W4AEE in Nashville, and later sold to
another hom on the east coast.
That HV wire is solid #14 tinned copper, with rubber insulation, covered
with a cloth jacket, and the whole thing is encased in a lead sheath, with
outside diameter of about 9/16". I removed the lead sheath and used the HV
wire inside. I like it because it is flexible enough to easily bend, but
rigid enough to retain its form when bent. I would have kept the lead
sheath if I had just started building the rig up from scratch, but since I
used the wire to replace the rubber test lead wire I first used, the lead
sheathing made it too rigid to pull through the wiring of the transmitter.
I have seen other military rigs that use lead-clad insulated wire. It is
rugged and provides shielding. The lead sheath also helps prevent the
insulation from drying out and becoming brittle.
I originally used red rubber covered test lead wire in my rigs, but the
problem is that the internal heat generated by the transmitter quickly dries
out the rubber insulation and it begins to crack and actually fall off the
wire. That's why I had to replace the HV wire in that transmitter after
only about 15 years. I would not recommend the stuff for the purpose.
Don k4kyv
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