[TowerTalk] Coax for crankup

[Dick Green]

>     The renowned N6TV ("TV Bob" to his friends) uses a large fishing net
to
>'catch' his coax. This is one of those devices that has a handle and loop
with
>the netting like you use to land a fish (in this case it would be a big
one!).
>Anyway, it works real slick and I took some pictures of it.

Steve,

Any chance you could scan that picture and send it to me? Unfortunately, I
have a feeling that method might not work very well for my rotating
crankup -- if the tower is partly retracted, rotation will pull coax out of
the net and won't put it back in. Still, it's worth trying.

A sailing friend recommended a method sailors use to keep cables out of the
way on their boats: bungee rope. When the tower is fully retracted, pull the
excess coax out from the tower in a big loop, thread it through a big pulley
(like a plastic clothesline pulley), and attach the pulley to a long bungee
rope. Attach the other end of the bungee rope high up in a tree about 30 or
40 feet away from the tower. When the tower is down, the bungee rope
contracts, pulling the coax loop up and out from the tower. When the tower
is raised, the coax loop is drawn in towards the tower, causing the bungee
rope to stretch. In either case, there would be enough give in the bungee
rope to allow the tower to rotate freely. The coax would never touch the
ground. My friend thought another pulley would be needed at the first coax
standoff to make sure the coax slides through smoothly. Personally, I'd be
more skeptical about the coax sliding through the other pulley.

I think the basic idea has merit if bungee rope with the right stretch
characteristics can be obtained and the method of attachment to the coax can
be perfected. There's a suitable tree just the right distance from my tower.
Has anybody tried this or does anybody have any ideas on making it work?

The only other idea I had was inspired at the airport. I noticed that the
jetways have a spool of cable that automatically unwinds as the jetway is
extended and automatically rewinds when the jetway is retracted. Anybody
know where I could get a surplus jetway?

73, Dick, WC1M



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