[TowerTalk] Re: using trees to anchor wire antennas / The Crossbow Incident

[Jim White, K4OJ]

I also have used crossbows to loft arrows trailing monofilament, which 
then pulled twine and then pulled rope....

One time, the trees near our biggest tower were so thick we could not 
pull a line up through them. I climbed the tower and had my father W1CW 
  send up the cross bow... the spool of monofilament was attached to a 
board which he then in turn attached to a 2 x 4 that had several common 
nails partially driven in that were bent with the heads rolled over so 
that they in turn hooked onto a horizontal rung of the tower, thus 
freeing up my hands for the cross bow...

It took two shots - the first one broke the monofilament about 50 feet 
out and that arrow was LONG gone into the distant field.  All the while 
  I was wondering if a neighbor was videotaping me up at 100 feet 
shooting a cross bow to the northwest... seeing as I was not taken away 
in a straight jacket I guess not :-)

Heah... it worked... and the dipole was resurrected... Dad later had the 
tree guys come out and they "enhanced" [can you say chain saw or stump 
grinder?] the path between the two towers that supported that wire :-)

Inexpensive crossbows which are more than adequate for the accuracy 
needed in this type of operation can be had at all the local weekend 
flea markets here in FL... cheap, too!

Jim, K4OJ