Did you ever want to make a wire antenna and realize you don't have the needed length of wire?
You have 3 options.
1) Go out and buy the needed length of wire. - That is an ouch - it costs part of your hard-earned hobby money.
2) Ask your friends if they have wire they can spare. MAYBE you will get lucky!
3) Gather what lengths of wire you have and connect the pieces to get what you need. Great, but how do you connect the wires? What is the best way?
Twist the ends together and hope. NO! This is the time for a WESTERN UNION SPLICE!
What is a Western Union Splice? It was developed "way back when" by the Western Union Telegraph Company to splice wires they were stringing on their poles - MILES long!"The Western Union or Lineman splice was developed during the introduction of the telegraph to mechanically and electrically connect wires that were subject to loading stress. The wrapping pattern is designed to cause the termination to tighten as the conductors pull against each other. This type of splice is more suited to solid, rather than stranded conductors, and is fairly difficult to complete.
The Western Union Splice is made by twisting two ends of a wire together counterclockwise 3/4 of a turn each, finger tight. Then, using needle-nose pliers, the ends are twisted at least five more turns, tightly. The cut off ends are pushed close to the center wire. "Short tie" and "long tie" variations exist, mainly for purposes of coating the connection with solder. The longer version may aid in solder flow. NASA tests on 22 and 16 AWG wire showed that the Western Union Splice is very strong and is stronger than the wire alone if done properly."
Because we are using stranded wire this joint becomes much harder to do. First we strip back about 1" on each wire we want to join. Then we twist the wire strands together to make a more solid wire. When wires are twisted in a tight bundle you can better manipulate it and it accepts solder much better.
SAFETY: Wear safety glasses when doing this. Hot solder can do extreme damage to your eyes should you get even a dot in your eye. I know I had it happen and I was blind for a whole summer; never again.
Before we solder there is a point that must be made. Solder when used with heat has a capillary action meaning that it will gravitate to the heat source. When the wire is properly heated and solder is introduced, the solder should almost "soak" into the joint. When joining wires, I always put the iron on the bottom and the solder on the top. This speeds the completion of the joint which makes sure I do not overheat the wires insulation, compromising the joint.
This info is taken from WIKIPEDIA. You can see the entire info at https://www.instructables.com/How-to-make-a-proper-Western-Union-solder-joint/
Till next time, 73, Tom, WB2KLD