[TowerTalk] Getting a stuck wire antenna out of a tree

[Hank Garretson]

On Wed, Oct 18, 2017 at 10:15 AM, Jim Brown <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com>
wrote:


> I hire tree climbers to rig my high wires. They're not cheap -- $900 for a
> 6 hour day is the going rate. I'm lucky to get one end of a high dipole
> rigged in a day. If a wire or rope breaks, I get to hire them again, so I
> try to "safety" all of the mechanical connections in my antennas and use
> ropes that are less likely to break.
>
> I had a 7/16-in Synthetic Textiles rope break in a storm last winter. So
> far, I've had climbers for two days, and the dipole is still on the ground
> -- they have one more tree to climb. The first day was removing the broken
> dipole from a big madrone and trimming the madrone back a lot.
>

My experience is that Synthetic Textiles always chafes. Here in the High
Sierra, life expectancy was about a year.

I have switched to Mastran
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi8komjgvvWAhVixoMKHbG-Cb0QFghMMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mastrant.com%2F&usg=AOvVaw139TMl78xWqnUNWPdoXPoM
. It's been up four years and no sign of wear. Well worth the extra cost.
DX Engineering sells it.

Yep, tree climbers are expensive. Right from the start, I had my climber
install two ropes and two pulleys at the top of my two trees. Cheaper in
the long run.

Use high-grade marine pulleys. Cheaper in the long run. Make sure you size
the pulley for the rope diameter.

If ropes do chafe, you can replace using temporary splice. Butt the new
rope with old and hold together with #22 wire wrapped in tape. Pull splice
gently through the pulley.

73,

Hank, W6SX