Antenna Wire Gauge Chart: Best AWG by Use

The short answer · Updated 2026

Use 14 AWG stranded insulated copper for a permanent home dipole or end fed: 1.63 mm thick, about 12 lb per 1,000 ft, strong and cheap. Use copper clad steel for spans over about 100 ft on 80 or 160 metres, 18 to 22 AWG for portable antennas, and 24 to 26 AWG dark wire for a hidden antenna. At HF the electrical difference between these gauges is a fraction of a decibel.

At HF the gauge barely matters electrically. Mechanically it decides whether the antenna survives the winter.

Gauge at a glance

Copper antenna wire by gauge

Gauge	Diameter	Weight per 1,000 ft	DC resistance per 1,000 ft	Typical antenna use
12 AWG	2.05 mm	19.8 lb	1.59 ohm	Long permanent spans
14 AWG	1.63 mm	12.4 lb	2.53 ohm	Home dipoles and end feds
16 AWG	1.29 mm	7.8 lb	4.02 ohm	Lighter permanent wires
18 AWG	1.02 mm	4.9 lb	6.39 ohm	Portable antennas
22 AWG	0.64 mm	1.9 lb	16.1 ohm	Backpack and SOTA wires
26 AWG	0.40 mm	0.8 lb	40.8 ohm	Stealth, low power only

Bare solid copper figures at 20 C. Stranded and insulated wire of the same gauge weighs a little more. RF resistance is higher than DC because of skin effect, and it is still a fraction of a decibel on a half wave HF antenna at any of these gauges.

Home default: 14 AWG stranded
Long spans: Copper clad steel
Portable: 18 to 26 AWG
Stealth: 24 to 26 AWG dark
Insulated versus bare: 2 to 4 percent shorter
Avoid: Solid bare copper for spans

Antenna wire selection is almost entirely a mechanical decision. At HF the current in a wire antenna is low enough that conductor losses are negligible across any sane gauge, so the electrical difference between 14 AWG and 22 AWG is a fraction of a decibel that nobody will ever hear.

What changes is whether the wire survives being hauled into a tree, whether it stretches over a season, whether it snaps at a stress point, and whether the neighbours can see it.

Wire types compared

Wire types

Antenna wire by application

Wire	Best for	Strength	Notes
14 AWG stranded THHN	Permanent home antennas	Good	Tough, insulated, cheap, easy to handle
12 AWG stranded	Long permanent spans	Very good	Heavier, more sag, more visible
16 to 18 AWG stranded	Portable and temporary	Fair	Light, adequate for short spans
Copper clad steel, 14 to 18	80 and 160 m long spans	Excellent	High tensile, stiffer, harder to work
Silky or Kevlar cored	Backpack antennas	Excellent for weight	Very light, very strong, expensive
24 to 26 AWG dark insulated	Stealth installations	Low	Invisible above about 25 ft, fragile
Solid bare copper	Short elements and radials	Poor in spans	Work hardens and snaps at flex points
Aluminium electric fence wire	Radial fields	Fair	Very cheap for large radial counts

Stranded wire flexes without work hardening, which is why it outlasts solid wire in any span that moves. Solid wire is fine for a short element clamped at both ends and poor for anything hanging in a tree.

Span length and sag

A wire hung between two supports forms a catenary. Longer spans need either more tension or more sag, and more tension is the wrong answer because it transfers wind and tree movement straight into the feedpoint.

Deliberate sag is good. A visible curve absorbs several feet of tree movement and costs essentially nothing in performance.
Use a counterweight rather than a fixed tie-off at one end, so the tree can move without loading the wire.
For spans over about 100 ft, copper clad steel is worth the extra handling difficulty. A full size 160 metre dipole is 246 ft of wire and plain copper will stretch.
Support the coax at the feedpoint with rope so its weight does not hang on the connector.
Inspect the span every season. Rope creeps, branches move, and a wire that cleared the driveway last year may not now.

Insulated or bare

Insulated wire: Safer where anything might touch it, more durable in weather, and easier to handle without gloves. It resonates 2 to 4 percent lower than bare wire of the same length, so cut long and trim. This is the default for a home installation.
Bare wire: Slightly cheaper, marginally shorter for a given resonance, and it makes soldering a tap or a joint easier. It also corrodes, and it is a genuine hazard where it can be reached. Reasonable for radials buried in a lawn and questionable for a span at head height.
Enamelled or magnet wire: Very light and used in some portable antennas. The coating is a poor insulator against contact and abrades easily, so treat it as bare wire for safety purposes.

Radial wire

A radial field is the one place where wire cost matters, because you need a lot of it. Sixteen quarter wave radials on 40 metres is over 500 ft of wire.

Ground radials do not need to be resonant and do not need to be insulated. Number matters far more than length.
Cheap wire is the right answer here. Aluminium electric fence wire and bulk stranded copper are both used successfully.
Lay them on the surface and let the grass grow over them, or slit the turf with a spade. They do not need burying deeply.
Elevated radials are a different matter: four of them, cut accurately to a quarter wave, perform as well as thirty on the ground. Those want good wire and careful lengths.
Plan the field with the radial planning calculator.

Stealth wire

What to buy

Wire, rope and end hardware

The wire is the cheapest part of an antenna. The rope and the insulators decide its life.

XRDS-RF

XRDS-RF 14 AWG stranded copper wire, 25 ft

The default: 14 AWG stranded insulated wire, tough enough for a permanent installation and easy to work with.

Check priceUnder $25

Paladin

Paladin 14 AWG stranded copper wire, 500 ft

A larger spool for multiple antennas or a radial field, where the per-foot price starts to matter.

Check priceUnder $100

Quality Nylon Rope

QNR 3/16 in polyester antenna rope, 500 ft

UV-stable low-stretch support rope. The rope should take every bit of the mechanical load, not the wire.

Check priceUnder $50

Redman

Nylon dog bone antenna insulators, 10-pack

End insulators so the wire terminates into rope with the high-voltage tip out of reach.

Check priceUnder $50

Not on Amazon

EZ Hang

EZ Hang antenna launcher

Additional antenna hardware for centre and end terminations on a home built wire.

Find comparable gear

Sold by EZ Hang, not Amazon. The link searches the category.

Forester

Forester arborist throw line kit

Getting the support line into a tree, which no amount of wire quality substitutes for.

Check priceUnder $25

Bonison

UV-resistant heavy duty zip ties, 100-pack

UV-rated ties for dressing a feedline. Ordinary ties fail within a year outdoors.

Check priceUnder $25

GOOZEEZOO

GOOZEEZOO 150 W end fed antenna transformer

A 49 to 1 transformer if you are building an end fed from your own wire.

Check priceUnder $50

Safety

Never raise an antenna where it can reach a power line

Contact with an overhead power line kills amateur operators every year. It is the most common fatal accident in this hobby by a wide margin, and it happens during the raising, not during operation.

Before any antenna work, walk the site and find every overhead conductor, including the service drop to your own house. Assume the antenna, the mast, the support rope and the person holding it can all fall in any direction. If any part of the installation could contact a line while being raised, lowered, or blown down later, do not put it there. Move the antenna, not the risk.

A wire antenna launched into a tree can drift into a line. A telescoping mast can be dropped. A guy rope can be walked into a service drop in the dark. There is no version of this where a power line nearby is acceptable.

Antenna and mast installation safety

Common questions

Questions people ask about this

What gauge wire should I use for a dipole?

Fourteen AWG stranded insulated wire for a permanent home installation. It is strong enough to survive being hauled into a tree, cheap, easy to handle and durable in weather. At HF the electrical difference between gauges is a fraction of a decibel, so the decision is mechanical. Thinner wire is for portable antennas and stealth installations where weight or visibility matters more.

Does insulated wire perform as well as bare wire?

Yes. Insulation slows the wave slightly so an insulated antenna needs to be about two to four percent shorter for the same resonant frequency, and that is the entire difference. Insulated wire is safer where anything might touch it, more durable outdoors and easier to handle. Cut long, measure the resonance at final height, and trim.

What wire should I use for radials?

The cheapest wire that will survive being laid on the ground, because you need a great deal of it. Ground radials do not need to be insulated or resonant, and the number of them matters far more than their length or quality. Elevated radials are different: four of them cut accurately to a quarter wave, which deserves good wire and careful measurement.

Why did my antenna wire break?

Usually at a stress point where the wire itself was taking mechanical load instead of the rope. Solid wire work hardens and snaps at any point that flexes repeatedly, which is why stranded wire outlasts it in a span. The fix is to terminate into an insulator with rope carrying all the tension, and to leave deliberate sag so the tree can move.

Is 12 gauge or 14 gauge better for a dipole?

Either works, and 14 AWG is the usual choice. Twelve gauge is about 60 percent heavier (19.8 against 12.4 lb per 1,000 ft of bare copper), so it sags more and loads the supports harder, while the electrical gain at HF is too small to measure on the air. Pick 12 AWG only for a long permanent span where abrasion and ice are real concerns.

Can I use very thin wire for a hidden antenna?

Yes, and it is the best performing stealth option because it is a full size antenna rather than a shortened one. Twenty four to twenty six gauge dark insulated wire is genuinely invisible from the ground above about 25 ft. It is fragile, so the support rope must carry all the mechanical load, and it will not survive an ice load in a cold climate.

Keep going

Related on this site

Sources

Wire diameter, weight and DC resistance: standard annealed copper wire tables (ASTM B258 gauge dimensions; NIST Copper Wire Tables, Handbook 100).
Conductor loss and antenna wire practice: The ARRL Antenna Book, chapters on HF wire antennas and ground systems.
Insulated wire velocity factor (2 to 4 percent shorter): ARRL Antenna Book and manufacturer notes for THHN insulated wire.

Disclaimer Researched guidance for planning purposes, not professional engineering, electrical or legal advice. Antenna work, RF exposure, mast and tower work, grounding and battery handling all carry real risk that depends on your specific site and installation. Verify anything safety-critical against current FCC rules, the National Electrical Code and the manufacturer's own documentation, and hire a professional where the job calls for one. We research equipment from published specifications, regulatory documents and verified owner reviews rather than claiming hands-on testing we have not done.