Wind isn't really a problem. If you have the antenna held by rigid supports
that don't sway, don't worry about it. The tensioning devices are to keep
the swaying of trees, used as supports, from snapping the wire.
"Michael Lawson" wrote in message
...

Bungees don't seem to weather well, but will do for the short
term. You may also consider, instead of directly tying it off
at the far end, running the rope through a pulley, with two or
three bricks (or some other suitable weight) to hold tension
on the rope.

I found a 4" pulley for about $5 at the local home-improvement
store that's sold as a laundry-line pulley. Even though it's
plastic (with a metal axle), it's tougher than it looks.

Hmm.. I've thought about that, but I think that the
kids wouldn't go for having a brick hanging off of
a pulley on the end of their wooden playset, and
my wife would freak if I did that at the other end,
where our screened in porch is.

I may just keep it with the poly rope in pretty
much an as-is configuration for a while, and see
how it goes.

--Mike L.

And Dacron is better than both.

"starman" wrote in message
...
Michael Lawson wrote:

Over the next week or so I'm planning on doing some
tweaking to my random wire antenna outside, and
I came across something on either the net or in a book
that recommended bungee cord for an outside antenna
to relieve the slack during wind gusts. I was planning
on just keeping a standard poly rope, but I was wondering
what the group thought of the idea of a bungee cord.

--Mike L.

Nylon rope is more durable (UV resistant) than polypropylene.

Something else to beware of is plastic at the connectors. I got a
dipole some time back that had each side of the dipole and the connector
attached to a piece of plastic. In about two years the plastic had
cracked, and broken losing one half the dipole. I continued to RECEIVE
ONLY on the half that was left. Now the whole thing is down! I suppose
I'll have to put up another antenna of my own some time in the future.
There'll be no plastic exposed to sunlight.

==========

CW wrote:

Bungee cords and sunlight don't get along. Works if you replace often
enough. A pulley and weight are better.

"Michael Lawson" wrote in message
.. .

Over the next week or so I'm planning on doing some
tweaking to my random wire antenna outside, and
I came across something on either the net or in a book
that recommended bungee cord for an outside antenna
to relieve the slack during wind gusts. I was planning
on just keeping a standard poly rope, but I was wondering
what the group thought of the idea of a bungee cord.

--Mike L.

For what it's worth, in 28 years, I've never had a wire break from the trees
swaying in the wind. I can't see the point in pulling them so tight that there
isn't any sag in the wire.

I use 1/4 inch nylon rope and if the rope needs to be replaced from UV damage,
or squirrels, then it's probably about time to do some maintenence on the
antenna anyway.

jw
k9rzz

"dxAce" wrote in message
...


starman wrote:

Michael Lawson wrote:

Over the next week or so I'm planning on doing some
tweaking to my random wire antenna outside, and
I came across something on either the net or in a book
that recommended bungee cord for an outside antenna
to relieve the slack during wind gusts. I was planning
on just keeping a standard poly rope, but I was wondering
what the group thought of the idea of a bungee cord.

--Mike L.

Nylon rope is more durable (UV resistant) than polypropylene.

You got that right! I put up a 36' mast years ago and used that darn
polyproylene, and after a few years it started rotting.

Stay away from that stuff.

Good to know. I'm still rainbound, so I really can't
do anything right now anyway. At the rate the
rain has been coming down the past week or so,
the Ohio River will start flooding soon.

--Mike L.

Got it.

--Mike L.


"CW" wrote in message
...
Bungee cords and sunlight don't get along. Works if you replace
often
enough. A pulley and weight are better.

"Michael Lawson" wrote in message
.. .
Over the next week or so I'm planning on doing some
tweaking to my random wire antenna outside, and
I came across something on either the net or in a book
that recommended bungee cord for an outside antenna
to relieve the slack during wind gusts. I was planning
on just keeping a standard poly rope, but I was wondering
what the group thought of the idea of a bungee cord.

--Mike L.

"-=jd=-" wrote in message
. ..
On Fri 31 Dec 2004 05:29:07p, "RHF"
wrote in message
oups.com:

ML,
.
You can get fancier with a Three to Five Pound (3#-5#) Fish
Weight or an Old Wooden Window Weight instead of a Brick.
.
Buy a Ten Foot (10') Piece of PVC Pipe that the Weight
will just {Fit} "Slide" Up-and-Down in Freely.
.
Stick the PVC Pipe in the Ground about Two Feet (2')
with the rest of the Pipe above Ground.
.
Tie-Off the Weight with the Rope so that it is 'positioned'
Midway {Centered} in the PVC Pipe to Move with the
Dynamic Loading of the Antenna Wire.
.
Insert the Weight into the PVC Pipe.
.
Paint the PVC Pipe if that is what will make the Family
Happy ;-} (o: Out-of-Sight - Out-of-Mind :o)
.
.
iane ~ RHF
.
All are WELCOME at the Shortwave Listener (SWL) "Antenna
Ashram"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortw...tenna/message/
502 Some Say: On A Clear Day You Can See Forever.
I BELIEVE: On A Clear Night . . .
You Can Hear Forever and Beyond, The BEYOND !
[ With the an Shortwave Listener "SWL" Antenna of your own
making. ] .
.


I was going to suggest a bucket filled with the necessary
amount of sand - but being at a childrens swing-set, I can
imagine that wouldn't last very long at all...

Ha. Not with my kids. I was originally going to
hang one end off the top of their playset (it would
have given me an extra 20 feet of length), but then
I thought that my son would try to see if he could
hang from the wire. Therefore, I decided to attach a
pressure treated 2x4x8 piece vertically on the rear
of the playset (4 feet attached to the 4x4 support
and 4 feet above the roof of the playset) so that
I could get the antenna wire safely above his
reach.

I'm thinking of modifying the rope to attach to
a rope wraparound thing that you'd find at the
bottom of a flagpole (yes, I can use technical
terms) and reknot it every so often. That'll get
me by until summer, and I'll reevaluate things
again.

--Mike L.

Michael Lawson wrote:

I'm thinking of modifying the rope to attach to
a rope wraparound thing that you'd find at the
bottom of a flagpole (yes, I can use technical
terms) and reknot it every so often. That'll get
me by until summer, and I'll reevaluate things
again.



Heh. Can't find a url to show you.

Take two long pieces of wire, double over, insert each into one end of a
compression spring, bend all wire ends out and over the ends of the
springs.

Pull on the wire loops, and the spring compresses.

These are availible commercially.

Tying off the antenna will result in the antenna wire stretching, so you
will have to tie off more often than you might like.

The easy way to keep the kids off the antenna might be to borrow a fence
charger for a while. It takes a wife with a certain sense of humor to
not kill you afterwords, of course.

Or a wife with enough sense to realize kids have to learn what "Don't
touch" means.

"Offbreed" wrote in message
...
Michael Lawson wrote:

I'm thinking of modifying the rope to attach to
a rope wraparound thing that you'd find at the
bottom of a flagpole (yes, I can use technical
terms) and reknot it every so often. That'll get
me by until summer, and I'll reevaluate things
again.



Heh. Can't find a url to show you.

Take two long pieces of wire, double over, insert each into one end
of a
compression spring, bend all wire ends out and over the ends of the
springs.

Pull on the wire loops, and the spring compresses.

These are availible commercially.

Tying off the antenna will result in the antenna wire stretching, so
you
will have to tie off more often than you might like.

Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Something
similar can be used on screen doors. I'll think about
it.

The easy way to keep the kids off the antenna might be to borrow a
fence
charger for a while. It takes a wife with a certain sense of humor
to
not kill you afterwords, of course.

Or a wife with enough sense to realize kids have to learn what
"Don't
touch" means.

Ha. Good luck trying to explain that one to the
child support people.

--Mike L.

JD,
..
" Besides, if you are like me, and perhaps some others in here,
as soon as you get it rigged-up, within a week you'll have
"a better idea"... "
..
LMAO - so true, So True. SO TRUE !
..
..
" after you make that cleat you could give the leftover box of
nails and a hammer to your son (who needs "action figures"!). "
..
(o: (o: (o: Remembering and Smiling :o) :o) :o) ~ RHF
..
..