[TowerTalk] Mechanical Fuse

[Peter W2IRT]

Hi all,
This weekend's northeast monster-storm took a toll on my 80m vee. A
tree-limb fell on half the vee and it broke right at the balun, high atop
the motorized crankup tower. I am so phenomenally thankful that it didn't
pull the tower over, rather the flexweave wire just broke instead. If I'd
used copper-clad steel (as I did for my 160m Inverted-L), I have a feeling
I'd have lost a lot more than half my 80m vee.

This got me to thinking. When I put it back up, can I employ some kind of
all-weather mechanical fuse that will part if the antenna wire comes under
stress, but do so at a level that can be fixed on the ground, and not
require my hiring a climber? I run QRO (legal-limit) and like to have
everything as over-engineered as much as possible, within reason. 

----------------------------------------------------
Regards,
Peter Dougherty, W2IRT