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Re: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas

To: Wayne Kline <w3ea@hotmail.com>, terry burge <ki7m@comcast.net>, "topband@contesting.com" <topband@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas
From: Grant Saviers <grants2@pacbell.net>
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2018 16:00:55 -0800
List-post: <mailto:topband@contesting.com>
I'll second the success with the CSV19 tennis ball launcher. You won't need the top model for 60' trees but I do recommend the fishing archery spool option for paying out the line - very smooth and snag free. The PE braid is so light that one problem is how far the wind drift will take it. Shoot with the wind if you can. Beats every other method I've seen other than a tree climber. If you buy the kit carefully RTFM. The tennis ball is weighted with about a dozen pennies so comes down thru firs easily.

Be careful, the weighted ball energy is dangerous. Handle with firearm rules. Also the recoil requires aiming & flinch control like a larger bore handgun.

A really nifty accessory is the Ryobi 18v battery powered hand held inflater, especially if you have Ryobi tools. It makes quick work of pressurizing in the field. $19 last I saw at HD.

Grant KZ1W

On 11/28/2018 15:34 PM, Wayne Kline wrote:
Terry.

I never used one of those pneumatic air launchers….. following your link  looks 
 like a great option.



In the past I have used a bow and arrow wit the bow having a Zebco spin cat 
real  attached. But was limited because  I have a 1000 ft road frontage tree 
line and arrows  descending can be a problem.



I  ran across a wrist rocket which uses a tennis ball … I  got a few hand balls 
 seemed to work better falling through the tree branches and have been using  it in 
that configuration for a while.



My trees are not in the 100ft range but more in the 50/60 ft



YMMV



Wayne W3EA



Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10



________________________________
From: Topband <topband-bounces@contesting.com> on behalf of terry burge 
<ki7m@comcast.net>
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2018 6:04:10 PM
To: topband@contesting.com; terry burge
Subject: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas

Sometime back I bought one of those cheaper launchers that shot a 1-1.5 oz. 
fishing weight with fishing line attached. It was scary because if that fishing 
weight hit something other that the ground or the fish line broke you never 
knew where that thing was going to land.


I now have a CSV19 Pneumatic Antenna Launching System like you can see at 
www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html>.
 I have used it with a lot of success and have seen it send a tennis ball over a 105' 
fir tree about half again as high. I think with the max 80# of pressure (think that 
is what the max is labeled)  can get a woven fish line over a tree at least 160' 
tall. 100+ feet for sure. The big thing is to have a lot of fish line on the fishing 
real and don't forget to open the bail. If you start breaking lines and try splicing 
them together that can be a problem catching on the reel spool. The new woven fish 
lines are even smaller and I think lighter than monofilament. Can't remember how many 
times I've had to search for the tennis ball because the 30-40# fishing line broke. 
Even have one on my third guy line up on my tower.


Wind can sometimes be a problem of course. Was really a problem with the first 
launcher using that in Keizer (in town). Hitting right above the top of a tall 
fir tree as a target you would be surprised just how far off one can go.


Terry

KI7M

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