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Reviews For: Ladder Snap Ladder Line Kits

Category: Feedlines (coax, ladder-line, etc.)

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Review Summary For : Ladder Snap Ladder Line Kits
Reviews: 19MSRP: 29.99
Description:
Make your own 600 ohm Ladder Line the easy way. No more
laborious cutting up plastic or wood dowel rods. Simply
open the bag and snap your line together. Make your
feedline up as you need it. Never again get caught short or
buy more feedline than you need to finish your antenna
project. You won't have to wait weeks for an out of stock
supplier during peak antenna building season.
For use with #14 THHN Stranded or Solid Wire

www.73CNC.com
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.73CNC.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00194.9
W9OS Rating: 2012-11-25
Great product fun to build Time Owned: N.A.
The guys who say this product is no good must be all thumbs!!I string the two #14 wires across my back yard ends wrapped on the fence.I use just a regular old pair of pliers and a product like Armor All. I space 15 inches and can do 70 feet in less than an hour.I have this product at both of my QTH's on 80 meter dipoles. We had 80 mph winds in WI this past summer and never unsnapped a spacer..It's suspended by two trees , no center support.The feed line flops around like no tomorrow. Never a problem. Dump your old 450 ladder line..This stuff is the hot setup!
W8EZI Rating: 2012-08-31
works almost as described Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I finally got enough ambition to replace my 450 ohm window line to my 75 meter loop with open wire line using this product. As has been said earlier, using the pump pliers simply does not work very well or at all. The video instruction should be changed. I used a small channel lock pliers with the top end taped to reduce damage to the wire.

I then began testing the loop for SWR on all bands without a tuner. Things really changed from the 450 window line. I can only say the performance of my loop antenna was very significantly improved over the window line. I was actually very surprised at how much improvement.

I used #14 insulated stranded house wire for this project and it worked fine. The spacers sold worked well. They fit very tightly and will not slip. You must use a lubricant to snap them into place.

I suggest you practice pressing the wire in with some scrap wire before actually snapping in the wire you intend to use for your lead in.

This was a very worthwhile project for me.
AB4D Rating: 2012-08-22
Seems to works well Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hi, I purchased a 250 foot Ladder Snap kit, with the intention of making about 160 feet of ladder line. To install the snaps as suggested by the manufacturer, I tried to use Armor All® as a lubricant, and both slip joint pliers and plumber's pliers. However, all of that helped very little with the installation. After struggling with the snaps for several hours on the work bench, trying to install them as suggested by the manufacturer, I became frustrated and nearly gave up on this product.

Nevertheless, I decided to give it one last shot. I'm glad I did, after reading several of the reviews here, I was able to install them. IMO, the most efficient way to install the ladder snaps, is to locate an open space and stretch out your parallel wires to the length required.

To do this, I put a snap on each end of the parallel wires and secured each end of the line to a fence post to stretch it out.

Next, as suggested by W4HBM, you should place the ladder snaps into a bucket of warm soapy water, this really did the trick. Using 18 inch spacing, I was able to assemble 160 feet of ladder line in about an hour and a half. To lock the wire to the snaps, I used a small pair of 7 inch channel lock pliers.

IMO, the manufacturer really needs to give better installation instructions. Their suggestion to use Armor All® was a waste of time. Warm soapy water was more effective, and did not leave your hands feeling slippery.

73

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Earlier 3-star review posted by AB4D on 2012-08-20

Hi, I purchased a 250 foot Ladder Snap kit, with the intention of making about 160 feet of ladder line. I had high hopes for this product. However, I found the ladder snaps to be really tedious to install on the wire. To install the snaps, as suggested by the manufacturer I tried to use Armor All® as a lubricant, and both slip joint pliers and plumber's pliers. All of that helped very little with the installation, but the plumber's pliers did work better than the standard pliers.

After spending nearly three hours, and only successfully making about 40 feet of line, I gave up on this product. To the contrary, it took about 2 minutes to easily remove the snaps. In the past, I have made my ladder line with home brew spreaders made from 1/2 inch UV stabilized PVC conduit and mini black tie wraps. I found that process is much easier and quicker, than the ladder snaps.

Others have had good luck with these, and that is great, but I can't really recommend them.
K7NJC Rating: 2012-04-18
Great for building multi-band dipoles Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought a bag of ladder line snaps to build multi-band dipoles for both the house and field day. They are easy to install and look very good once the antenna is installed. For wire, I use the 14 gauge wire that is sold by DX engineering in their wire antenna kits.

Winters can be tough in Montana and this is a product that you do not have worry failing in the middle of the winter.

Dick
K7NJC
K4OR Rating: 2012-04-18
Great Product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I replaced 450 ohm ladder line I had been using for years and decided to make my own balanced line using ladder-snap spacers. I was very satisfied with how well the job went in a minimal amount of time. I used warm soapy water and household pliers and it worked fine. I think another type of pliers such as those mentioned in the other reviews may work better. I would certainly recommend ladder-snap to anyone desiring to make their own balanced feedline.
WA5OPT Rating: 2012-03-31
Great Product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
If your thinking about using open wire transmission line, THIS is the way to to go. The product and service are top notch. Ladder snap works like a charm. It only took me about two hours to make a 75 ft feed line. The last one that same size took all day.

73
WA5OPT
Cliff
W4HBM Rating: 2012-01-29
A Better Mousetrap Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The last time I made a ladder line I used PVC water pipe and XHHW-2 wire. It took weeks, and then, the foolish tubes would slide down the wire leaving 3 foot sections and piles of tubes where they didn't belong. Then, 12 years later, the wire turned to cheese andmy analyzer said the entire mess was >10:1 SWR and the Impedance (Z) was Zero Ohms.
So I took a chance and ordered the 250 foot Ladder Snap kit of 174 pieces. Kinda pricey, but they're Delrin plastic, not PVC, and they need to be cooked in hot water to work. Take the iron kettle right out with ya. Don't listen to them about using a combo set of pliers. Go buy a Channel-Lock Pipe plier and use the narrowest setting. Get it when you get your THHN wire.
Wait until it's the coldest day of the year, with wind blowing at 30 MPH gusts or better. Antenna work is not effective if the wx is mild.
Take the bucket of hot sudsy water out there and let the cool breeze tantalize your fingertips as the water evaporates. After finishing, brush a little dab'll do ya of Polyurethane varnish right over the pinch area, because the wire's insulation gets a little stressed, but don't paint the whole shebang. The snaps have small holes in the cross members. These are great for putting waxed nylon lacing twine through for hanging the ladder line, etc. You're not going to find any equivalent pieces/parts out there, and just forget about PVC tubing.
W1BR Rating: 2011-11-28
Clever idea! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I recently installed a 110-foot 80 through 10 Meter dipole using 600 ohm wire feedline which was constructed using electricians' THHN 14 gauge stranded wire and the Ladder Snap spacers.

We had an early Nor'easter rip through Connecticut in October, and despite being hit by large falling branches the ladder line held up with no damage. I used several 3 foot standoffs cut from electrical PVC conduit to support horizontal runs on the ladder line. These supported the open wire along the shed's eve lne just before the line dropped to post mounted DX Engineering 1:1 current balun. These support pipes were totally destroyed and ripped from the building, but the Ladder Snaps held tight and the 600-ohm line itself was fine!

The instructions suggest using slip joint "gas pliers" to lock the wire into the Ladder Snaps. I had a small pair of Channel Locks that worked better for me. I used one Ladder Snap ever 18" per the directions and that proved to be more than adequate. The antenna roughly follows the
open-wire dipole shown on the DX Engineering website. I use a large Dentron tuner to match the antenna. The feedline impedance is a bit higher than suggested, but there is something about being able to make your own ladder line, especially when you're rewarded with a superior low-loss feedline system that emulates the "Old Buzzard" open wires of yore!
KA9UVY Rating: 2010-11-23
Quality product and easy to use Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First off I wanted to make up about 150 feet of line so I asked if I could get the extra pieces and it was no problem. My special 150 foot package arrived quickly and line building day was here.
I found them easy to apply but used dish soap and water in a cup for lubricant so as not to leave an oily residue. I wanted them to stay put after all.
Also suggest that you make up a spacer out of a 1 x 4 about 17" long so you can keep them even and square with the line. I put 4 roofing nails in the side of the 1 x 4 so it slid along on top of the lines as I worked my way down.
I have had the line up only a short time but since it survived high wind and rain last night I believe that they have a very good grip on the wire and should last a long time.
I would suggest that you get a few extra especially if your line has a twist in it like mine on my Lazy H. The #14 wire doesn't like to turn corners and a few extra with short spacing will help.
If you want a great ladder line and don't want to spend a whole day making your own spacers then these are probably just what your looking for!

73, Bob
KA9UVY