Since having had the rope antenna for just over two years, my SSB radio trans and receive were slowly getting worse, when i checked the rope antenna, i found the internal copper core to be completely tarnished and in some areas rotten. Really disappointing!
After speaking to a Ham friend of mine he pointed me to DX Wire a German based company that sells a stainless steel wire wrapped in silver plated copper, that is coated in a ETFE similar to Teflon, its extremely durable an considering what i paid for the rope antenna cheap!
Ive simply removed the rope antenna and put the DX wire in its place. it works a treat!