A problem seeking a solution.





I live in a wooded area of the Pacific Northwest with dozens of fir trees of
100 ft or more in height that make wonderful supports for high dipoles and
other wire antennas. These particular trees have very few limbs at anything
below the 60 ft level so using a crossbow or slingshot for installation is
not practical. I have been forced to employ a professional tree climber to
install the eyebolts and halyards. Using this system, the antennas can be
raised and lowered for maintenance or modification.

This system works fine until our winter storms kick in. Often, during those
storms, a tree will lose a limb or two and take the antenna down with it. I
am then left with a halyard tied to an insulator 50 ft or more above the
ground with no way to get the insulator back down short of hiring another
costly climber.

Does anyone have any solutions to this problem?



73,

John

AE7P

On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:36:01 -0800, "Juan M."
wrote:

This system works fine until our winter storms kick in. Often, during those
storms, a tree will lose a limb or two and take the antenna down with it. I
am then left with a halyard tied to an insulator 50 ft or more above the
ground with no way to get the insulator back down short of hiring another
costly climber.

Does anyone have any solutions to this problem?

Hi John,

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
then passed up another pulley on that loop for the runner holding the
wire antenna. Then I made sure it would break at the wire connection,
not the rope. The continuous loop always gave me access to the pulley
that the antenna rope passed through. I used a two liter bottle of
water to ballast and tension the wire pulley system.

Think FUSE. Choose your point of failure, don't let it happen.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

"Richard Clark" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:36:01 -0800, "Juan M."
wrote:

This system works fine until our winter storms kick in. Often, during
those
storms, a tree will lose a limb or two and take the antenna down with it.
I
am then left with a halyard tied to an insulator 50 ft or more above the
ground with no way to get the insulator back down short of hiring another
costly climber.

Does anyone have any solutions to this problem?

Hi John,

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
then passed up another pulley on that loop for the runner holding the
wire antenna. Then I made sure it would break at the wire connection,
not the rope. The continuous loop always gave me access to the pulley
that the antenna rope passed through.

Just be sure the two ropes coming off the pulley don't gett tangled up with
each other. Mine did

I used a two liter bottle of
water to ballast and tension the wire pulley system.


This also works. As the tree sways back and forth, you don't want the wire
to keep moving. I brought the fixed end of the rope some distance from the
tree, and fastened it to half of a cinder block laying on the ground. The
cinder block will move to give you slack, but not move back when the branch
moves in the other direction.

Tam/WB2TT
Think FUSE. Choose your point of failure, don't let it happen.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Tam wrote:

"Richard Clark" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:36:01 -0800, "Juan M."
wrote:

This system works fine until our winter storms kick in. Often,
during those
storms, a tree will lose a limb or two and take the antenna down with
it. I
am then left with a halyard tied to an insulator 50 ft or more above the
ground with no way to get the insulator back down short of hiring
another
costly climber.

Does anyone have any solutions to this problem?

Hi John,

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
then passed up another pulley on that loop for the runner holding the
wire antenna. Then I made sure it would break at the wire connection,
not the rope. The continuous loop always gave me access to the pulley
that the antenna rope passed through.

Just be sure the two ropes coming off the pulley don't gett tangled up
with each other. Mine did

I used a two liter bottle of
water to ballast and tension the wire pulley system.


This also works. As the tree sways back and forth, you don't want the
wire to keep moving. I brought the fixed end of the rope some distance
from the tree, and fastened it to half of a cinder block laying on the
ground. The cinder block will move to give you slack, but not move back
when the branch moves in the other direction.

I've often used window sash weights. There isn't much call for 'em
these days and they can often be found at yard sales and flea markets
for next to nothing. If you can't find them, try using a quart milk
carton filled with concrete mix. After you've filled the container with
the concrete, place a large fender washer on the end of a three or four
inch long eye bolt, add a nut and stick it in the concrete. A pencil
through the eye will hold it in position until the concrete cures.

Afterward, it is simple to peel away the waxed paper carton. The
concrete can be painted some neutral color.

Dave K8MN

Dave Heil wrote:

inch long eye bolt, add a nut and stick it in the concrete. A pencil
through the eye will hold it in position until the concrete cures.

Arrrrgh! That'a a little extreme, donchya think Dave?


hehe.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -

Michael Coslo wrote:
Dave Heil wrote:

inch long eye bolt, add a nut and stick it in the concrete. A pencil
through the eye will hold it in position until the concrete cures.

Arrrrgh! That'a a little extreme, donchya think Dave?


hehe.

I don't care to imagine concrete blocks dangling in space or screen door
closers affixed to trees, Mike.

Dave K8MN

Tam wrote:

...
This also works. As the tree sways back and forth, you don't want the
wire to keep moving. I brought the fixed end of the rope some distance
from the tree, and fastened it to half of a cinder block laying on the
ground. The cinder block will move to give you slack, but not move back
when the branch moves in the other direction.

Tam/WB2TT
Think FUSE. Choose your point of failure, don't let it happen.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC


A couple of decades ago, I experimented with the "cylinder" (don't know
the correct term for it) from a screen door. This is the device which
allows the door to be opened quickly and then to close slowly. There is
an adjustment on it which allows this action to be speeded/slowed. I
remember that I ended up with 3 or four in series. The final "fail
safe" was a weight which would move to prevent damage to the antenna.

It worked until I went on to other antennas ... I am surprised no
antenna manufacturer has designed a device more suitable but along the
same lines.

Regards,
JS

I haven't had any problems using a weight, through a pulley, to hold a
wire antenna up. If that weight really gets to bouncing on the end of
that line, I figure it isn't quite heavy enough, or the tree is moving
so much the antenna isn't gonna stay up anyway (just hope the tree
does).
- 'Doc

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 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