Ladderline

[LoTech]

Does anyone know of a source to buy open wire ladderline for a reasonable price?

 

[GravelChan]

Does anyone know of a source to buy open wire ladderline for a reasonable price?

Just type "ladderline" into Google, you will get quite a few hits.

 

[LoTech]

Thanks. I looked at a lot of those, but it looks like 1000 feet would cost between $500-$750. That's not really an option to get a couple channels. Open ladderline used to be really cheap. I guess like everything else the price has skyrocketed.

 

[jayn_j]

Thanks. I looked at a lot of those, but it looks like 1000 feet would cost between $500-$750. That's not really an option to get a couple channels. Open ladderline used to be really cheap. I guess like everything else the price has skyrocketed.

It used to be common. I built antennas and feeds as a kid in the '60s with it, but the only people selling it now are promoting it as legacy and nostalgic. Low volume is always expensive.

 

[Tower Guy]

Thanks. I looked at a lot of those, but it looks like 1000 feet would cost between $500-$750. .

Ladder Line Antenna Lead In

$19.95 for 100' of 300 ohm.

 

[Jim5506]

Unfortunately that is not much better than regular 300 ohm twinlead 0 in fact that is what it is.

I think he is looking for the type with about 3 inch seperation with standoff about every 12-18 inches.

My reading seems to indicate most of it was "home made".

Very low loss for long distance transmission of TV signals, used in the 50's for rhombic antennas in open areas where the antenna was a 15 X 30 ft rhombus mounted on telephone poles 20ft or so off the ground - talk about DXing - but the rotator is a killer!

 

[LoTech]

We used to use it in the 70s with antennas 1/2 to 3/4 mile away to feed B/W TVs. At that time it used to cost about $35/500 ft. After doing some checking it has signal loss of about .3 db/100 ft and is unaffected by rain like window line or twin lead. There's a few channels I could get about 1000-1500 feet away with only about 3-4 db loss on VHF, but at today's prices...Nah! At $500 per thousand foot its cheaper to keep satellite. Open ladder line requires a lot of upkeep... keeping branches and weeds off etc.. Thanks for the help guys, but I guess I'll go with what I got.

 

[jayn_j]

Unfortunately that is not much better than regular 300 ohm twinlead 0 in fact that is what it is.

I think he is looking for the type with about 3 inch seperation with standoff about every 12-18 inches.

My reading seems to indicate most of it was "home made".

Very low loss for long distance transmission of TV signals, used in the 50's for rhombic antennas in open areas where the antenna was a 15 X 30 ft rhombus mounted on telephone poles 20ft or so off the ground - talk about DXing - but the rotator is a killer!

What you are looking for is true 600 ohm ladder line. You can make it with wooden dowels and bare copper wire, but it would get tedious for a long run. I used to use it to make folded dipoles. It was ideal for that. The stuff is very obsolete, and I doubt if you will find a 'deal'