keeping wire antennas up
 

From Rain City (Seattle). *I did this in a Maple forest. *I did mine
with pulleys top and bottom with a continuous loop like a flag pole. I
snip

Instead of pulleys, I use large screw-in insulators like you might see
on a
power pole. They are slick enough to act as pulleys, large enough to
take
two ropes (one for the continuous loop and the other for holding the
antenna), they don't cost much, and a rope NEVER jumps out of the
"pulley"!

I've also used a screen-door spring (or two in parallel) between the
rope
and the end-of-the-antenna insulator (with some more rope in between
so the spring doesn't add much capacitance to the antenna proper) to
give some strain relief.

--Myron A. Calhoun, W0PBV.
Five boxes preserve our freedoms: soap, ballot, witness, jury, and
cartridge.

keeping wire antennas up
 

Myron A. Calhoun wrote:
From Rain City (Seattle). I did this in a Maple forest. I did mine
with pulleys top and bottom with a continuous loop like a flag pole. I
snip

Instead of pulleys, I use large screw-in insulators like you might see
on a
power pole. They are slick enough to act as pulleys, large enough to
take
two ropes (one for the continuous loop and the other for holding the
antenna), they don't cost much, and a rope NEVER jumps out of the
"pulley"!

I've also used a screen-door spring (or two in parallel) between the
rope
and the end-of-the-antenna insulator (with some more rope in between
so the spring doesn't add much capacitance to the antenna proper) to
give some strain relief.

--Myron A. Calhoun, W0PBV.
Five boxes preserve our freedoms: soap, ballot, witness, jury, and
cartridge.

Myron;

The only problem with your insulators is that the tree is alive and
still growing. It will eventually grow around the insulator and embed it
in the wood. This will take a long time but they are still finding
cannon balls in trees left over from the Civil War.

Dave WD9BDZ

keeping wire antennas up
 

"Roy Lewallen" wrote in message
...
Buck wrote:

I can't speak for your specific situation, but here is how I handled
the similar situation.

I used either a multi-band-parallel dipole (sometimes referred to as a
fan dipole) or a 135 foot dipole fed with 300 ohm twin-lead. These
antennas were raised about 100 feet or so into trees by mason's line
which can be purchased at Walmart or most hardware or building supply
stores. . . .

While I still use it today, I don't recommend it for anyone wanting to
put up a permanent antenna and just leave it alone for more than a
year.

I don't think it works equally well for all kinds of trees. For many years
I've used nylon twine or mason's line for raising Field Day antennas. The
trees here in the Pacific Northwest are of course mostly evergreens which
have a lot of pitchy sap and in many varieties, fairly soft wood. An
antenna with a fair amount of tension causes the line to dig into the wood
in a very short period of time. And even after two days, the line can
sometimes be hard to get down because of being seized in the pitchy slot
it cuts in the wood. So while it's fine for a very short time temporary
setup, I don't consider it viable for longer term installation in the
kinds of trees we have here.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

If it is going to be a either temporary or permanent you might want to use
the first line up to hold a pulley, then run the antenna line thru the
pulley. Another way is to run your line thru a couple thickness of plastic
tubing positioning the tubing over the branch to keep the line from digging
into the bark.

Also, if you have a old spare bowling ball (don't laugh), either the 4lb
(duckpin) or the 16lb (tenpin) they make great weights for the end of the
lines instead of having to use a pail with cement for the weight with
eyebolt. Most of the bowling balls are made from hard rubber - all you do
is drill a hole and insert some epoxy glue or super glue in it and then
screw-in an eyebolt type of screw! When the wind blows and the tree sways
the antenna line should remain constant. Make sure that the line is about
3 - 5 ft above the ground when using a weighted system.

73 de Howard W3CQH