Thank you Ed!
73
Bob KQ2M
From: Edward Mccann
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2017 10:13 PM
To: Bob Shohet, KQ2M
Cc: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Getting a stuck wire antenna out of a tree
Some pictures of the poly-wrapped bike lock and carabiners and marine pulleys.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> On Oct 24, 2017, at 6:26 PM, Bob Shohet, KQ2M <kq2m@kq2m.com> wrote:
>
> I want to thank the MANY people that responded to my request for help in
> getting a stuck wire antenna out of a tree. Very sorry about the several day
> delay in my response but I was making the most out of our October Summer
> weather in Connecticut to work on fixing all my low-band antennas and some
> high band issues. I received quite an array of responses, some of them truly
> unique and mind-bending. I will definitely use some of them in the future!
>
> My favorites in no particular order:
>
> 1) Drone and cutting blade - definitely a “keeperâ€. I do plan to buy a
> drone for antenna related uses. I will have questions about which drone you
> bought and why,
>
> 2) Rope cutting blade – never saw or heard of one but I will inquire –
> sounds very useful,
>
> 3) Chainsaw cutting blade – see above
>
> 4) Shotgun - I live in deep woods and very heavy forest but I would
> definitely freak out my neighbors because our houses are too close to use one
> safely – but this was an idea that never would have occurred to me. LOL!
>
> Bucket truck and several other options not possible here; but good
> suggestions none the less. Tree climber – would be a possibility (I have a
> great Tree man who lives 1/2 mile from me and I have been using him for my
> tree work for the past 20+ years) but not for this particular branch.
> Burning the antenna and chainsawing the tree seemed a little “extremeâ€
> for this case but would have provided some visceral satisfaction. :-) And
> there were some other good ideas including a 50’ pole saw – which would
> still be too low for this branch but I never would have thought of making a
> pole saw that long – this idea I will definitely use on other trees.
>
> So what did I do?
>
> The end of the antenna was stuck in place 11’ off the ground. But I had a
> tall wooden step ladder. After a lot of thought, and then more thought and
> measuring, I realized that I could potentially pull up the SO239 and raised
> radials to the end of the wire element and then I use a thick split-bolt
> connector to clamp a piece of thick twine to 3†above the end of the wire
> element. I did that and then pulled up the SO239 (with radials) until it was
> just above the top of the end of the wire element and then I tied the end of
> twine around the SO239 and radials to tenuously hold it in place. I then
> took the soldering wedge and solder up to the SO239 (the SO239 was inverted
> with the center pin facing up) and with the solder in my teeth and wearing a
> pair of goggles to protect my eyes, I held the soldering wedge in my right
> hand and steadied the element wire in my left and then heated up the wire and
> the center pin of the connector. After they got hot, I fed the solder in by
> moving my head. After two tries, I got the wire in and soldered it solidly.
> Now the element was reattached to the SO239 as it was before. Problem solved!
>
> It was no fun though trying to balance near the top of the step ladder while
> both my hands and mouth were engaged in a delicate act. Fortunately I have
> good balance and I had stabilized the step ladder on the uneven ground before
> I climbed back up. A fall off the ladder would have led to some nasty
> injuries because underneath the ladder were sharp rocks, hard pan and and
> ledge. Fortunately it worked. If it didn’t then I would have had to go
> with plan B, C, D, E, F, G or something more extreme and time consuming and
> far more costly.
>
> BTW, the carabiner idea is GREAT and I am going to attempt to use that on
> several of my ropes in the future when I need to replace them!
>
> My antenna works now ( I worked 3C0L on 80) and in the process of attempting
> to deal with this problem I learned of several other possible solutions that
> never would have occurred to me, thanks to all of you for your help and
> insight!
>
> 73
>
> Bob KQ2M
>
> From: Edward Mccann
> Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2017 11:15 AM
> To: Jon Zaimes
> Cc: Bob Shohet, KQ2M ; Tower Talk
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Getting a stuck wire antenna out of a tree
>
> And after you get it out, go to Home Depot, spend $12 on a poly-clad bicycle
> cablelock long enough to wrap around the tree branch or trunk, secure the two
> eyes with a stainless carabiner or threaded shackle (next aisle over) and run
> several continuos black antenna ropes thru the shackle, as in sail halyards.
> Pick one, half way tie in a harkens marine pulley ($15 on Amazon), run your
> wire through, and haul away!
>
> Ed McCann
> AG6CX
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