I thought that I would report to the reflector the results of my efforts to
find a way to deal with falling branches and trees causing my beverage wires to
need constant repair. My beverages are 8 feet high and 650 feet long and run
through densely wooded areas. I use WD-1A military comm wire which is tough
stuff but breaks when a large branch or tree fall across it. Several months ago
I posted a request on the reflector looking for ideas as to how to deal with
the problem. I got several very good suggestions including one from Steve
VE6WZ. He suggested using a counterweight on the ground at each end of the
beverage. The weight would will be pulled upward if a tree fell across the
wire and hopefully the wire would not break. Knowing that we have lots of
summer storms with high winds I arranged one of the beverages with the weights
in May. The new system worked great. I had large trees fall across the
beverage on more than one occasion and all I need to do was remove the trees
and the weights came back to their resting position. I found that a 15 pound
weight at each end kept the 650 foot wire taut but would also be light enough
to be lifted by a falling tree. I used plastic electric fence insulators to
support the beverage along its length except at the ends where I used small
pulleys to lessen the stress on the wire where it bends downward. I have now
installed all my beverages using this system. It will be interesting to see if
they survive the winter storms. Thanks to VE6WZ for the idea. 73 Randy W9ZR
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