Bob suggested I post the following for those that might not have thought
about using a ladder against a tree.
I use a relatively cheap cargo strap with a ratchet to secure the top of
the ladder to a tree. One end of the strap hooked to the say the ladder
left leg and the strap under the top rung usually and around the tree
and the other end of the strap hooked to other (right) leg of the ladder
and then ratchet it down so the top of the ladder doesn't move and can't
slip down the tree. The strap will be sort of an X on the ladder side of
the tree. Depending on what I am doing I often use a climbing harness
with a belt around the tree to stabilize me.
FWIW
73, Larry W6NWS
On 10/24/2017 9:26 PM, Bob Shohet, KQ2M 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 “keeper”. 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
“extreme” 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
Bob Shohet, 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
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|