Topband: Antennas in trees

[Ken Brown]

Trees no doubt absorb some RF. Those of us who use trees as supports 
often do so because they are our best option. If you have towers use 
them, and if you have trees and no towers, by all means use the trees.

If you are using a pulley, as most tree supported antennas will, use a 
good one. I have never found a decent pulley in a hardware store. Buy 
your pulleys from a marine supply outfit. The ones used in small 
sailboats are usually big enough for antenna projects. Quality pulleys 
will cost 2X to 10X what the cheesy hardware store ones cost. The 
advantage is they are designed and built to work without breaking or 
jamming. After you have put all the effort into getting that pulley up 
in the tree, you don't want it to fail, just so you can save ten or 
twenty bucks.

DE N6KB