I read the original research on aluminium v copper access network cabling from the boffins in the fifties.
The conclusion was that aluminium .8mm was a suitable replacement for .5 copper.
The old .8 ali cables are beautifully made, have equivalent transmission and are very resilient.
The boffins decided that the large diameter of the .8 ali cable meant it was best to bury UG DPs alongside ducting on the housing estates rather than use up duct space.
By the time of the last deployment of aluminium esides in the early eighties they had forgotten about the research and cut back to .32
I remember the contempt my old T1 had when we were winching it in and he swore it was much smaller diameter at the winch end than the drum end.
My old be line saw an increase in speed from 11meg to 24meg once I had swapped from .32 ali to .63 copper esides.
Ali is a gift that keeps on giving. You can't machine joint it and you can't hand crank it and so it is very profitable to jointers booking on breakdowns
I digress, you're right, the poundage of the wire is what is important. Which is prolly why I've never seen an ali junction cable, they wouldn't fit in a duct.
Edited by deleted (Wed 12-Oct-11 21:30:18)
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