Shooting a wire over a grove of tall trees. What works?
 

There is a "weighted tennis ball launcher" similar to a potato gun, but
it runs on compressed air and has great range. They may be available
from several sources, but I bought mine from K8TAT, who makes them.

Bob W8ERD



In article ,
Ian Jackson wrote:

In message , Gary Smith
writes
i used a "surf rod", a fishing rod built for fishing from the beach, big and
strong. i tied about 4-5 old wheelnuts (or anything heavy), worked really
good. make sure the spool is full of fishing line first, and that its strong
line. and you may snap the line trying so you want to start small and build
up the weight.

This is presuming there is nothing/no one nearby that can be
damaged/injured.

Good luck.

Gary

"AC7PN" wrote in message
roups.com...
chuckle
Regards,
JS
Do you need a picture?



In the past (1961) I have used a bow and arrow (borrowed from an archery
enthusiast), and also a rocket (fireworks type) launched 'mortar style'
from a cardboard tube. Both pulled up linen thread (carefully coiled up
on the ground), which I then used to pull up nylon twine, then thicker
nylon etc.
Ian.

Shooting a wire over a grove of tall trees. What works?
 

Well, thanks for all the replies. I got my "potato gun/canon" to work
well today. I have a remote trigger to set the canon off so if the pipe
explodes I wont be hit. Hair spray is the answer. The guys at the local
autoparts store had already researched the different brands and had a
convicted opinion about what was best. I bought a can of that stuff.
3seconds of spraying works well.

But now I have a new problem. When the thing went off the 4lb fishing
line played out for about 8 seconds. It's still connected to the
projectile but after seaching the woods for an hour I couln't find it.
The trouble is I don't know how far it went. 100ft 100yards or
100miles. The 4lb fishing line is invisalbe from more than a few feet
away.

What now?

Tonight I'm making some more projectiles. It's looking like I'm not
goint ot be on the air for this weekends CQ 160M TEST.

Bob Brunius

Shooting a wire over a grove of tall trees. What works?
 

AC7PN wrote:

...
But now I have a new problem. When the thing went off the 4lb fishing
line played out for about 8 seconds. It's still connected to the
projectile but after seaching the woods for an hour I couln't find it.
The trouble is I don't know how far it went. 100ft 100yards or
100miles. The 4lb fishing line is invisalbe from more than a few feet
away.

What now?
...

Drag a rake perpendicular to the direction of the line, across the lines
path carefully watching?

Once you find the line, you got the projectile ...

Regards,
JS

Shooting a wire over a grove of tall trees. What works?
 

AC7PN wrote:
projectile but after seaching the woods for an hour I couln't find it.
The trouble is I don't know how far it went. 100ft 100yards or
100miles. The 4lb fishing line is invisalbe from more than a few feet
away.

1) Paint your projectiles blaze orange.
2) Use a heavier fishing line, it sound like you have the power to
launch it now.
3) Tie the trailing end of your fishing line to a big rock or your ankle
or something that won't be dragged into flight.

You're almost there -- see you on 160!!
--
HZ

Shooting a wire over a grove of tall trees. What works?
 

AC7PN wrote:
Well, thanks for all the replies. I got my "potato gun/canon" to work

No doubt in my mind. This is the best thread I've seen in here so far
this year!
--
HZ

Shooting a wire over a grove of tall trees. What works?
 

I paint my lead sinkers bright yellow and it is a breeze to spot them. W4lm
"Hank Zoeller" wrote in message
...
AC7PN wrote:
projectile but after seaching the woods for an hour I couln't find it.
The trouble is I don't know how far it went. 100ft 100yards or
100miles. The 4lb fishing line is invisalbe from more than a few feet
away.

1) Paint your projectiles blaze orange.
2) Use a heavier fishing line, it sound like you have the power to launch
it now.
3) Tie the trailing end of your fishing line to a big rock or your ankle
or something that won't be dragged into flight.

You're almost there -- see you on 160!!
--
HZ

Shooting a wire over a grove of tall trees. What works?
 

For about ten dollars in PVC pipe & cement, you can build a "spud gun" in
about two hours. It's a novelty cannon which shoots raw potatoes. If you
had a length of string laid out on the ground (for easy lifting), a potato
lofted out of the spud gun would carry the string hundreds of feet Thread
the end through the potato and secure it, perhaps with a coat button.

Although I have never shot a potato that had anything in it or through it, I
can personally attest to sending potatos high and clear hundreds of feet.
The propellant is ordinary hairspray. (Must use flammable propellant; not
all brands do.) The igniter is usually the spark lighter from a barbecue
grill or discarded stovetop.

The thing does not build itself; it requires some effort and craftsmanship
.... but what are we? Are hams not a creative and resourceful bunch?

In some areas, the law regards a spud gun as a weapon, despite the fact that
nobody has has ever used one to stick up a liquor store, etc. Check with
your local PD before showing up at Field Day with your new spud gun.

Searching "spud gun" on google.com returns 136,000 links. That should keep
you out off the street for a while.


"Gary Smith" wrote in message
...
i used a "surf rod", a fishing rod built for fishing from the beach, big
and
strong. i tied about 4-5 old wheelnuts (or anything heavy), worked really
good. make sure the spool is full of fishing line first, and that its
strong
line. and you may snap the line trying so you want to start small and
build
up the weight.

This is presuming there is nothing/no one nearby that can be
damaged/injured.

Good luck.

Gary

"AC7PN" wrote in message
oups.com...
chuckle
Regards,
JS
Do you need a picture?

Shooting a wire over a grove of tall trees. What works?
 

On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 20:27:31 -0800, "Sal M. Onella"
wrote:

For about ten dollars in PVC pipe & cement, you can build a "spud gun" in
about two hours.

Built one of these for quite a bit more than ten dollars but it works
pretty well: http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html

I recall that the sprinkler valve was $11-12 at Home Depot just by
itself.

S.T.W.

Shooting a wire over a grove of tall trees. What works?
 

Sum Ting Wong wrote:

...
Built one of these for quite a bit more than ten dollars but it works
pretty well: http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html

I recall that the sprinkler valve was $11-12 at Home Depot just by
itself.

S.T.W.

STW:

Before this thread, I was stuck with watching "Myth Busters" for fun!

All I got is a slingshot ... but I am thinking.

Regards,
JS

Shooting a wire over a grove of tall trees. What works?
 

The canon worked pretty well after a lot of "revisionizing" of the
design. I now have a 1000ft inverted V antenna. I runs on the tops of
the trees and is stretched to the very tip top of my 80ft tower on the
hill top. The coax runs about 400 ft through the woods to the Western
terminus of the V. To give a counter poise I ran three 120ft radials
from the starting point of the coax and the V. It probably needs more
radials but it doesn't need as many as a 1/4wave vertical because the
driving point impedance is about 10x greater than the vertical. So I
have a home brew 500ohm to 50ohm transformer at the driving point to
match the coax. It loads up with a less than 1.8:1 SWR from 1.8 MHz
to 29MHz. It is slightly directional to the East according to NEC
simulations.

Running this antenna was fraught with frustration. I used 4lb test
line shot from the canon. Missing was frequent and that light line
would be blown by the wind into trees that it shouldn't be in. The
line would often break before getting the job done requiring redoing.
I did pull 40lb test before pulling the insulated wire. The wire is 8
#22 conductors in a grey UV resistant ribbon.The antenna wire got
stuck in the guys of the tower a number of times requiring climbing
the tower 3 times. (That reminds me I have one guy on the tower
currently disconnected.) It seemed that the whole project was fighting
me tooth and nail.

It works though. I used it in the CQ 160M CW contest this weekend. I
couldn't stay up very late being exhausted from building the antenna
so I only worked about 6 hours total over two evenings. Made 115
contacts. I'm not so hot at CW. I can answer a CQ OK but if I call CQ
I get all panicked and fail to operate especially when three guys
answer at once at 35 WPM.

Bob Brunius