[TowerTalk] Antennas in trees

[Patrick Greenlee]

Arrows and tennis balls are prone to hanging up in trees.  I have had 
better luck with fairly large (an ounce or what ever you cast well) lead 
fishing weights, the teardrop streamlined ones.  I can cast one of these 
completely over a pretty large tree so that the weight doesn't have to 
come down through the middle of the tree.  I then remove the weight and 
tie on a small rope (1/4 inch) and pull that over the tree to use to 
pull a larger rope if needed.  Black UV stabilized HD fishing line as 
sold by Walmart for juglines and trot lines is good and long lasting in 
a sunny environment. It is a good line to leave in the tree to 
hold/connect to the antenna or strain insulator if you prefer.

It is good self defense to use a pulley on the end of the rope with a 
weight to set the tension in the antenna.  This will accommodate the 
motion of the tree in winds.

I have seen (but not done it myself) a powerful slingshot used to shoot 
the weight over the tree.  Requires good alignment of the slingshots 
initial trajectory with the open faced spinning reel but got the job 
done. I don't think it was his first rodeo.

Walmart is currently selling carbon fiber arrows for 45-70 lb pull in 31 
inch draw length for $3 each.  I bought and have used 15 lately.  A 
couple nocks came off but could be slipped back on with a small drop of 
alphacyanoacrylate anerobic adhesive AKA super or crazy glue. They have 
some aluminum shaft arrows for even less. (Price is USD last week but 
Canadian should be comparable.)

I have been successful with bow and arrow but found you need to back 
away from the tree so as to shoot less vertically and not have the arrow 
falling down through the middle of the tree.

Good luck!

Patrick       NJ5G

On 8/1/2015 6:03 PM, ve4xt at mymts.net wrote:
> Anyone have any advice for getting the fishing line to come back to ground zero?
>
> I have no problem getting the line over a nice, tall branch but the arrow and tennis ball get caught up on the way back down. If I'm lucky, I can snap the line and retrieve the arrow, but that's only happened once.
>
> I don't exactly have a bucket truck guy to call where I am (cottage). And I'm running out of cheap arrows.
>
> Kelly
> ve4xt
>
> Sent from my iPhone
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