Wire weight measurements

As I consider my Pico tracker, transmitting on HF frequencies, the weight of the antenna becomes a real factor.  At 30m, we're talking about a dipole that's 46 feet of wire.  Even light wire adds up!

I picked up an assortment of magnet wires to do some comparative measurements.  The data are below.

Wire	Sample Length (m)	Sample Weight (g)	Calculated Weight 20m dipole (10.124m) (g)	Calculated Weight 30m dipole (14.123m) (g)
30ga Wire Wrap	7.062	4.8	6.9	9.6
36ga Magnet	7.062	0.8	1.1	1.6
40ga Magnet	7.062	0.3	0.4	0.6

The 40ga is extremely light.  Here is a comparative photo of the three:

My wife is an expert with textiles.  We're going to try making a very fine 4-ply yarn, with one ply being the 40ga magnet wire.  We'll use this plied fiber between the balloon and tracker for the counterpoise.  

For the antenna, I'm unsure.  The 40ga wire is VERY fine, and tends to bunch up.  In order to keep the antenna element vertical, it might be necessary to put a very small weight at the bottom of the wire.   I'll have to think about that one.