text: Chapter 6
  Figure 6-20. Expedient insulators.
  SUPPORTS
  6-119. Many expedient antennas require support. The most common support is a strong tree that can
  survive heavy windstorms. However, even the largest tree sways enough in the wind to break a wire
  antenna. The operator attaches a spring or piece of old inner tube to one end of the antenna to keep it taut
  while preventing it from breaking or stretching as the tree sways. If a small pulley is available, he attaches
  that to the tree. He attaches one end of a rope to the end of the antenna, passes the rope through the pulley
  on the tree, then attaches a heavy weight to the free end of rope. This lets the tree sway without straining
  the antenna.
  TERMINATING RESISTORS
  6-120. Resistors for low-power (man-pack) HF radios are readily available from commercial radio supply
  stores. However, carbon resistors that can dissipate more than 5 watts are hard to find.
  6-121. As a field-expedient technique, the radio operator can connect the low-power (5-watt) resistors in
  parallel to enable a terminator to handle greater power. For example, eight 5-watt, 4,000-ohm resistors
  connected in parallel become a 500-ohm, 40-watt terminator. Unfortunately, this is still too small to work
  with a high-power, HF terminator. A terminator for a 1,000-watt transmitter requires 100 5-watt resistors.
  However, a series of 100-watt, 106-ohm resistors (NSN 5905-00-764-5573) may be mounted on a single
  insulating board to serve as a terminator for a high-powered transmitter.
  FIELD-EXPEDIENT WIRE
  6-122. If regular antenna wire is unavailable, the radio operator can use field telephone wire (WD1/TT)
  to build antennas. Field wire consists of two insulated wires, and each of those has four copper and three
  steel strands.
  • When making electrical connections with field wire, the operator uses the copper strands. To
  identify them he removes about 1 inch of insulation from one end of the insulated wire. He
  holds it where the insulation ends and bends the strands to the side. When he releases the
  pressure, the steel strands snap back to their original positions, but the copper strands remain
  bent. He can then wrap these copper strands around the steel strands for a good electrical
  connection.