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[TowerTalk] Need Help With Bow Launching

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Need Help With Bow Launching
From: palooka@pyrotechnics.com (Joe Pontek, K8JP)
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 10:36:38 -0400 (EDT)
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
>Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 08:27:33
>To: "Roger L. Elowitz" <K2JAS@worldnet.att.net>
>From: "Joe Pontek, K8JP" <palooka@pyrotechnics.com>
>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Need Help With Bow Launching 
>
>At 02:05 AM 4/20/97 -0400, you wrote:
>>Hi Guys,
>>
>>Seriously now........
>>
>>I have a bow (the kind archers use) that was probably bought at a garage
>>sale.  Absolutely NOTHING FANCY.  The bowstring is attached and takes
>>considerable effort to pull all the way back. I've been able to shoot
>>"broken tv antenna elements" over 100 feet away with nothing attached to
>>them. <no applause necessary>
>>
>>I have no arrows.  I don't know what kind to buy if I need them at all.
>>
>>I'd like to launch a fishing line about fifty to sixty feet up over a tree
>>limb.  Then, I plan to  attach a nylon guy rope to haul up one end of an 80
>>m dipole.
>>
>>So the questions are...
>>
>>a) What kind of arrow do I try to buy (at a sporting goods store I presume)
>>and does it need to be weighted at the tip with the fishing line secured at
>>the tail end? Will a dowel purchased at Home Depot serve just as well?  I'm
>>NOT financially challenged here.
>Not knowing what kind of bow it is, nor the pull weight, I give you some
>rough guide lines.  If it is a compound bow (pulleys on the end), only use
>aluminum arrows. You can shatter a wood arrow with them, sending 
>pieces of wood through your hand, back at you from the bow arm richochets,
>and, certainly, do not use a wood dowel with any bow, except a kids bow.
>Take you bow to an archery shop. They will help you. Ipull the tip out and
>epoxy a spike (heavy nail) into the end. You don't need it to shoot the arrow
>up, but you need it to pull the line down and through the tree.
>>b) I imagine I'd need some kind of cheap fishing (casting) reel but don't
>>know what to look for and where to attach it.... on the bow I presume? I've
>>never seen this kind of rig.
>I gave up on fishing reels and use a couple of alternatives. One is
tracking line
>that you can buy at the archery shop. It is a spool of light line that
feeds out
>of the center. It feeds with little friction.  Jet-Line is available
through some 
>electrical supply houses. It is blown down conduit with compressed air to
>draw a pull line through, then the draw line is used to pull wire. Same
principle
>as the tracking line. Maybe alittle cheaper.  I keep several of these on
hand in case I miss my first or so shots. They is not reuseable, but neither
is the
>tree tangled fishing line! I attach the line to the arrow head and hold the
thimble
>between two fingers of my hand holding the bow. After this is placed through
>the proper tree branch area, I pull up nylon cord, then nylon rope.
>
>Good luck. You'll get 100's of ideas, I know.  This is used and proven. Also,
>watch that the line is not wrapped around your fingers or other object. You 
>can have a finger badly cut or a speeding arrow reverse it's direction at
the end of
>it tangled line and hit you.
>
>>c) What kind of fishing line should I use?
>>
>>This is a ONE TIME EVENT so I'm not planning on opening up a dipole mounting
>>business needing all manner of fancy equipment.
>>
>>All suggestions would be greatly appreciated and I think, if posted to the
>>reflector, would help others who will someday face a similar problem.
>>
>>Thanks in advance,
>>
>>Roger, K2JAS
>>
>
73,  K8Joe"Palooka" & Beverly,
K8JP, K8JP/VA2, VP5/K8JP, VP5JP, ex-K8HKM, ex-KN8HKM
NIDXA
And look at "The Contest Traveler" column in the NCJ
[\] NAUI Diver
palooka@pyrotechnics.com
snail mail:
Joe Pontek, K8JP
P. O. Box 59573
Schaumburg, IL 60159-0573
(847) 885-8871 (home)
(847) 519-7420 (work)
(847) 619-3250 (FAX)
U.S.A.


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