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Re: [TowerTalk] Need a Knot Expert

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Need a Knot Expert
From: Gedas <w8bya@mchsi.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 11:06:41 -0500
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
I am hoping that I will never have to worry about the "loose end" of my rope ever getting loose and coming off the top pulley requiring me to tilt over my tower to re-thread the rope thru the pulley.

Gedas, W8BYA

Gallery at http://w8bya.com
Light travels faster than sound....
This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

On 11/28/2019 1:21 AM, Robert Harmon wrote:
Gedas,

I have been following this discussion with interest.  I have a similar 
arrangement on my tower.  I have a 3 foot pipe extending out from the top 
section with a pulley on the end.
A rope goes through the pulley and is attached to the center of an 80 meter 
inverted V.   Like you I can raise and lower the antenna with the rope.  The 
difference is
I dont have another pulley at the bottom and use a loop arrangement to raise 
and lower the antenna.   I have two cleats vertically mounted on a tower leg a 
little over 3
feet apart and after hoisting the antenna up I wind the rope around the two 
cleats.  It takes approximately 10 wraps.  What is the advantage of using a 
loop arrangement
between two pulleys ?

Bob
K6UJ




On Nov 27, 2019, at 8:21 PM, Gedas <w8bya@mchsi.com> wrote:

I was wondering if anyone was going to ask that :-)

In the past what I have been doing is making a temporary loop (you know the kind 
that if you pull on the ends with nothing inside the loop, the loop will 
disappear).....well anyway once the double Bowline knot is hoisted up to the top of 
the tower and wire antenna attached I create a temporary loop at the bottom and slip 
it over a smooth curved 3/8" steel hook I have fastened to one of the tower 
legs. It's not super easy to make because the line is fairly tight but not so tight 
that I cannot make one. When it's time to lower the antenna I simply pull the loop 
off that steel hook, pull the knot apart and lower the antenna like a flag.

Gedas, W8BYA

Gallery at http://w8bya.com
Light travels faster than sound....
This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

On 11/27/2019 10:23 PM, Howard wrote:
Hi,


I'm sorry I don't have any additional knot information than what has already 
been provided, however, I have a question.  After you pull the loop for your 
dipole to the top pulley, how do you intend to hold the rope in that position?


Howard, WA9YBW


On 11/27/2019 3:50 PM, Gedas wrote:
Hi Wes and TU. I am not sure I am positive what you mean by only a load on the 
upper side of the knot.

I am going to have two pulleys, one at the top of the tower and one at the 
bottom. I am going to have a single long rope threaded around both pulleys and 
I am going to use a fisherman's knot or similar to tie the two together nice 
and tight. Not going to be much tension in the rope at this point, maybe 10 
pounds just to keep both sides of the line nice and tight with no slop.

Now, I was hoping for a single knot that not only joined the two ends of the 
rope together but that also left me with an open loop so I could easily slip in 
something like a temporary chain link etc and then attach one end of a dipole 
etc to that link.

This way from the ground I would be able to hoist up or down that end of the 
dipole as I pleased. Now, when the end of the dipole gets attached to the other 
end of that temporary chain link etc and the dipole is up in the air stretched 
tight there may be 30-40 pounds of tension pulling on that line. Since the two 
pulleys are fixed that tension from the dipole will get translated to my ropes 
going up and down the tower between the pulleys.

I have been doing this type of arrangement for 20 years but only with a pulley 
at the top of the tower. Up until now I just had the long single rope looped 
around a round aluminum cross member of my free standing tower.

There was some friction with the rope looping around the 3/8" dia round & 
smooth diagonal but I never had a failure. This season I installed a meaty pipe across 
the tower at about the 5' level and attached a pulley at each end (I am going to have 
several ropes going up and down so I can support and mess with more then 1 antenna).

I hope that paints a more clear picture. So far I have had a lot of great ideas 
and the only issue is me understanding their words and making my fingers tie 
the knots the way I'm supposed to hi-hi.

Gedas, W8BYA

Gallery at http://w8bya.com
Light travels faster than sound....
This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

On 11/27/2019 4:25 PM, Wes wrote:
I'm with the other Wes on this one. If I understand correctly you only have a 
load on the upper side of the knot. I would join the ends with any old knot and 
tie a alpine butterfly loop on the upper side of the knot: 
https://www.animatedknots.com/alpine-butterfly-loop-knot or one I find easier 
to tie, a bowline on a bight: 
https://www.animatedknots.com/bowline-on-a-bight-knot

Wes  N7WS


On 11/27/2019 2:06 PM, Wes Attaway (N5WA) wrote:
Gedas:

You have received a lot of good suggestions.  Here is one more, and it is
pretty simple.  You are apparently not going to be risking anyone's life.
You are going to hold up one end of a dipole and there may be 30-40-pounds
of tension..

I would just join the two ends of the Dacron rope with a simple square knot
and with 6-inches or so of each rope sticking out from the knot.  Then tie
the two ends into a square knot.  Tape the ends to the rope if you want to.
With constant tension this arrangement will never come loose. I have done
this many times over many years with ropes into trees and on towers, etc.

Constant tension on the rope will keep the knots nice and tight.

     -------------------
Wes Attaway (N5WA)
(318) 393-3289 - Shreveport, LA
Computer/Cellphone Forensics
AttawayForensics.com
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