Magnet wire for free

[Ray Lalleu]

Lex talked about very small gauge magnet wire he used for an invisible antenna, and said he paid a dollar for that wire.

I don't know where to buy that kind of wire. It's easier to find it for free in discarded devices such as DC motors of cassette or CD players, or mechanical relays.

For stronger enamelled wire, that can be found in powerful AC motors. It's very uneasy to get the motor from a discarded washing machine on the curb. Rather, just load a discarded vacuum cleaner and disassemble it at home. The wire of the moving coils can't be removed without harm to it, but the wire of the static coils can be removed cleanly with some astuteness. Beware, some low grade vaccum cleaners are built with aluminium wire, that can't be uncoiled neatly. Remember to scrap the enamel on the tip of the copper wire for good contact, don't rely on soldering heat.


 

[ThaDood]

To hide a Windom, living at an apartment, I did just that, used trashed TV degausser wire. It was like #26AWG, and, unless you knew exactly what you were looking for, it was pretty much unseen from the ground level. It seemed to work fine to DX lower HF, especially 43M. Not the strongest wire to use, so had to repair that after almost every high-wind storm. But, if you want to sneak an outside antenna in an HOA, this might be the way to go. 

[Pigmeat]

I used to use copper wire from phone extension cord reels from the 80's,it was about 26 gauge. As the Dood said, the stuff is virtually invisible once it's in the air. No one ever looks up. You can still pick the things up at garage sales for pennies.

I once knew a ham who dragged appliances and old electronics from his neighborhood into his garage to salvage wire and parts. His wife nearly divorced him over it. The guy was the spitting image of Ned Flanders from "The Simpsons", but he wasn't aware of it because he never watched the show. 

[Zoidberg]

Yup, I've stripped magnet wire from junked equipment. PITA but it worked.

But Tandy Corp and Radio Shack *were* local, and used to have a couple of outlet stores here in Foat Wuth. One was a bargain store with discontinued items, new/old stock stuff in damaged packaging, etc. The other was basically their junk shop, often good stuff, no packaging, often without any documentation, but giveaway prices. So I bought a bunch of magnet wire cheap in various gauges.

Cheap enough that I considered it disposable. My apartment complex used to frown upon external antennas, satellite dishes, etc., despite the fact that those were permitted under federal and local regs with appropriate permits where required. But the maintenance crew didn't speak English, my Spanish is toddler level, and they just tore down anything that was in their way or visible outside the building, including gardening planters set out by residents, and yard decorations. The crews just literally mowed and plowed right over that stuff, and took over the greenhouse to use as their maintenance garage. So all my external antennas were as cheap as possible.

I even switched to TV coaxial cable. The older stuff installed by the cable TV contractor many years ago was good stuff and adequate for radio receiver feedlines. Proper shielding, good quality connectors. Over the years as longtime tenants died, moved to nursing homes, etc., when the make-ready crew overhauled the apartments they tore out and discarded perfectly good coax because the complex no longer supported the rooftop antennas and old school satellite dishes.

Not ideal HF antenna materials, but good enough for this semi-urban area that's plagued with heavy RFI no matter what antenna we use. And cheap/free, so I didn't get upset when the maintenance guys found my stealth antennas and tore 'em down.

I almost miss those days. Since the pandemic the building has taken a serious economic hit, moved in a bunch of troublesome tenants from shelters, etc., lost many longtime tenants, fired, rehired, lost, rehired and lost again several maintenance guys, none of whom seem to stay longer than a month, sometimes only a week. At this point I could rig up a proper outdoor antenna and nobody would notice or care until the next HUD or state inspection several months from now. Assuming the place isn't foreclosed on by then.

And, yeah, I'm looking for another place to stay after 15 years here. Rent has always been a bargain but there are limits to everything. My limit is the neighborhood shootouts every weekend, especially the bullet through the next door apartment's living room window several months ago. It's gotten so bad the corner convenience store put up a locked gate across the entrance, installed a bulletproof walk-up window, and now the locals who dare to patronize that store can only buy their malt liquor, cigarillos and scratch-offs through the sliding metal drawer.

[Pigmeat]

There are a few convenience stores like that around here that started doing it in the 90's at the end of the crack wars and the beginning of the meth epidemic. Junkies just head to the pill mills to get their fix for cheap. They tell the nurse practitioners that write the scripts they've got a hangnail or something and head to the nearest drugstore. They'll hit two or three pill mills in a day.

One of the places ran by a Dr. had a tip jar for the receptionist at her window. The law finally busted him, but he fled back to India to escape prosecution. He had groups of "patients" flying in from all over the south and the east coast to see him. 

[W4JDY1953]

Yes, hard times for all; but then we are "Green" except for the working middle class and elderly losing their retirement investments, and the poor now poorer globally, not just there.

Lucky we have a hobby for those cold winter nights ...

[Pigmeat]

A lot of the homeless from the shelters who end up apartments are mentally ill with a disability due to that. They get victimized in the shelters and on the streets. With mental hospitals being few and far between, they bounce from living rough, to the shelters, to group homes and subsidized housing. Quite a few of them end up back on the streets because they can't deal with the structure of living in a group home or on their own. Once they reach certain age and state of health, it's off to a rehab center to get them off of the substances of their choice and then to a nursing home for the rest of their days.

As for copper wire, that's something you cash in for a little extra food or a bottle of Mad Dog. 

 

[Zoidberg]

A lot of the homeless from the shelters who end up apartments are mentally ill with a disability due to that. They get victimized in the shelters and on the streets. With mental hospitals being few and far between, they bounce from living rough, to the shelters, to group homes and subsidized housing. Quite a few of them end up back on the streets because they can't deal with the structure of living in a group home or on their own. Once they reach certain age and state of health, it's off to a rehab center to get them off of the substances of their choice and then to a nursing home for the rest of their days.

As for copper wire, that's something you cash in for a little extra food or a bottle of Mad Dog.

Yup. I've occasionally stopped to chat with folks living on the street or in the parks, rather than the designated shelters in the unofficial "homeless district." Usually they dislike the noisy, aggressive vibe of the shelters, especially the folks struggling with mental health issues.

One guy in particular gave me a run down about the daily routine for homeless folks who prefer to seek shelter downtown, or in the parks, rather than the homeless district. This guy was living in his SUV with his dog, saving his social security income to rent an apartment after a few months. He knew the schedules for the various fixed shelters and food banks, the visiting ministries and other organizations. But it involved a lot of walking, which is very difficult for some folks who are already struggling.

Over the past 20 years my apartment complex has morphed from a conventional independent living complex for able bodied seniors. The landlords started brining in more disabled tenants, despite lacking even basic ADA-compliant amenities such as wheelchair ramps, doors that are accessible to folks in wheelchairs, etc. And the landlord rents upstairs apartments to tenants who cannot get around without a power wheelchair, which basically traps them if there's a fire.

And since the 2008 economic crisis they've brought in more folks who were homeless, in shelters, group homes, etc., who were eligible for housing subsidies. This escalated rapidly after the last of the old school segregated and isolated housing projects was closed down a couple of years ago, just before the pandemic hit. Most of them are 55 and older, so the place is still pretty quiet compared with the rest of the neighborhood. But the complex gets more police calls than in previous years, often due to trouble caused by younger family or visitors, often, umm... unauthorized neighborhood entrepreneurs, shall we say.