Antenna Launcher
John Ferrell wrote:
On Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:30:53 -0800, Bill Baka
wrote:
I think I have a good one for this thread. Get about 500 feet of 24 to
28 AWG magnet wire and wind it onto a fishing pole that has the easy
cast and not an ocean reel. Put on a fair sized weight and then cast
over the first tree in sight. Have someone walk around and find the
weight on the ground and throw it over the next tree. Do this until the
wire is used up or there are no more usable trees. I am going to try it
on my next outing.
Bill Baka SWL only.
After today's experience I think I can see a problem coming for you.
I was ready to move to the second tree today. After a couple of false
starts (valve leaking around pipe threads & add the second battery per
advice) I popped the line over the intended tree plus two more. The
line ran out smoothly but stopped with a jerk. I ran out of line on
the reel! The projectile was hanging about 30 feet from the ground.
After much fussing around I managed to reel in enough line get to the
top of the intended tree. It seems to be best to reel the line in very
slowly because the projectile tends to flip around the limbs and wrap
itself tightly. That is what happened to today's effort. The
projectile is tightly jammed at about 65 feet up the tree with a good
portion of the available line out of reach. I took the XYL to dinner
and stopped by WalMart for more line for tomorrow...
What I am getting to is that you will need a plan for what to do when
you pitch the weight in the tree and it don't come down!
100% chance of precipitation tomorrow afternoon (may be even snow) in
the North Carolina Piedmont. Great antenna weather!
John Ferrell W8CCW
I have a big reel of magnet wire about 22 or 24 AWG, meaning probably
miles of it, so I can lose some. A lead weight is disposable so I won't
cry over it. I may leave some of these antennas at favorite spots for
future use. A fishing rod just casts really far for me so it is my
weapon of choice.
Bill Baka
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