What use is an F-call?

I once asked an amateur what the best wire was to use for an antenna. He advised me that there are really only two kinds of wire. Free wire and Cheap wire, with a preference for the former, rather than the latter.

In the run-up to a recent contest I spent a week building an 80m pyramid antenna. It took around 82 meters of wire to build. I started with using a roll of 12 gauge wire, but that was too heavy for my squid pole. I managed to break it about 4m from the top.

I should have left it at that, but I was determined, so I went to my local electronics store and purchased a 100m roll of light duty hook up wire. It cost me about $25.

I managed to build myself an antenna that was perfectly resonant on 160m - very helpful - not. By this time it had been raining for several days and my antenna building activities were curtailed. Not because I melt in the rain, but because it wasn't fun being in the rain. At the end of the day, this hobby isn't supposed to be a chore, it's supposed to be fun.

I retold my story over lunch when a friend suggested that I might investigate electric fencing wire. Comes in 200m rolls, $25, strong enough to keep a horse at bay, built for Australian conditions.

I've spent a little time looking at this and while there are those who tell me that it's a fool's errand, there are plenty of discussions recommending and comparing this kind of material for use as an antenna.

So, in the arsenal of possible sources of antenna wire, I can now add electric fence wire to my list of things to try.

It's not free, but it's pretty cheap!

What weird and wonderful materials have you used to build antennas?

I'm Onno VK6FLAB