Topband: Drones for antenna installation?

[Gary Smith]

I made my pneumatic launcher, info was in 
a QST a few years back. I made a larger 
one than written up in QST, the smaller 
one worked fine.

You can see it at the bottom of my QRZ 
page. I shoot 30 pound test with it & it's 
never broken yet, though I have replaced 
the line last year, just to be sure all is 
intact.

73,

Gary
KA1J

> I bought two under-$200 drones, and sent back both for a refund. (I
> have also used slingshots/fishing reels/lead weight.)
> 
> Neither of those worked as well as the  pneumatic launcher that I
> bought from the Joplin, Missouri ARC. And it was windy, too! But the
> calmer the wind speed,  the better.
> http://joplin-arc.org/antenna-launchers/
> 
> Both our trial shot and the second shot pulled the included weight and
> fishing line right over the tree, exactly where we needed it! :-)
> 
> Flying a drone takes many hours of practice. And how will you get the
> drone if it gets stuck way up in the tree?! :-)
> 
> 73, Mike
> www.w0btu.com
> 
> On Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 2:16 PM Dwight Jones <DwightJones at outlook.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > I have been thinking about purchasing a drone. It just occurred to
> > me that I might be able to use it to install antenna wires. A row of
> > trees separates my lot from my neighbor's. The row is about 150 feet
> > long and 65 feet high. A similar row runs in front of my house, but
> > that row is closer to power lines.
> >
> > Should I use the drone to drop a wire directly on the trees? Or
> > should I drop a fishing line and try to pull a wire through all
> > those trees? A third option is to use a Cushcraft MA160V.
> >
> >
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