At Auckland gliding club we are using plain standard rope (aerotow)and find
this works just as well as the more expensive spectra and others like it.The
only difference is in the initial lift off the ground and rotation .The rope
is more elastic and if you do not get load on the cable quickly and maintain
it, an oscillation can start between glider and winch. result: slow fast
slow fast etc launch. The main advantage is its cheap and available
everywhere.
Splicing is the same as aero tow ropes but double the length.
We use the correct weak link for the a/c type
We have found the increase in height is roughly the same as spectra and
others like it.
gary

"Craig Freeman" wrote in message
...
We recently converted from 3/16 7x9 cable to 3/16 plasma rope on our
winch.
"Plasma", made from Honeywell "Spectra" fiber, seems to have some real
advantages over wire or cable. Some benifits include light weight,
11.48lbs
per thousand, (that's not much even converted to metric!!), hollow braid
(no twisting), 5000 lb breaking strength (that a lot even converted to
metric!!), 25% increase in launch heights. We operate from asphalt and
it seems to be holding up wery well. Expensive? Yes! However in our
environment it promises to far outlast steel which would make it cheaper
in the long run plus the added benifits. Sorry this sounds like a
commerical
I was just so tired of that !@#$@#%%^# wire. If anyone else has any
experience
with this stuff is there anything we should be looking out for?

Happy Winching,
Craig-