[TowerTalk] The things you see in the woods-antenna related

[John Simmons]

The performance of an antenna is inversely related to the temperature at 
which it is installed. Kudos for your perseverance!

-John NI0K

> Mike Smith VE9AA <mailto:ve9aa at nbnet.nb.ca>
> Tuesday, January 15, 2019 11:41 AM
> I spent a couple hours down in the woods today 'trying' to resurrect 
> my 160m
> inverted L (not successful yet.long story) and I looked about 100' 
> away from
> where I was working and saw a CAR TIRE deep in the woods, on my property,
> apparently hanging from a tree abt 10' off the ground. WTF?
>
>
>
> (there are no paths here, no close neighbours on that side and you'd 
> have to
> be stir-crazy to be monkeying about with anything in this patch of 
> woods, in
> the subzero winter, on a steep very rocky slope, in deep snow.. so at 
> first
> glance I couldn't imagine why a tire was up a tree!) Bears? Moose? Elves?
> Yeti?
>
>
>
> I worked away a cpl hours at my semi-recently collapsed 160m inv L,
> eventually getting all the fallen ropes and wires unstuck from under a 
> foot
> or so of snow, and untangled from multiple trees and bushes but ran out of
> steam putting it all back up. When attempting to reinstall, I kept
> breaking my fishing line when I was pulling the new rope over the 
> trees; got
> disgusted and had enough. Normally I break very few lines or ropes, so a
> combination of cold temps and icy/snowy ropes made everything heavier 
> and a
> bit more brittle I think.
>
>
>
> I don't give up easy, but a guy has to know his limits.
>
>
>
> (not easy wading through a foot or so of snow , walking a 300' path, over
> and over untangling 130' of wire and 200' of ropes, being an old fat guy
> when it's -7*C outside) .So, even though I was dog tired, the 
> curiosity got
> the better of me.and after a short coffee break I had to go look at this
> mystery tire.
>
> Somewhat refreshed, I stomped a new path, across the field and through the
> snow and down into the woods to investigate.
>
>
>
> All my 4 square verticals terminate about 6-8' off the ground, each with 2
> raised radials , then at the junction(insulator) of each ground plane, 
> it's
> tied to a short 6-8' rope, which is then tied to a tire laying on the
> ground. (hey, recycle when possible, eh?).nobody can see these 'down over
> the hilld, in the woods' from the road or my house, so it's not an 
> eyesore.
> Normally the tires are covered in leaves/brush/plants/twigs or snow, 
> and are
> down a steep slope so out of sight-out of mind. I never think about them.
>
>
>
> Turns out , sometime quite recently , a HUGE tree fell and took out some
> (more) of my (recently repaired) raised radials AND it also came down on
> top of the horizontal part of one of my 80m inverted L verticals. The
> 12#awg stranded wire didn't break. The immense tree just hauled most 
> of the
> wire quite literally right to the ground and so the tire, rope (and 
> coax and
> vertical and 2 raised radials) went flooop, right up in the air. What a
> sight that would've been to behold. (Like a Rube Goldberg device). I am
> lucky that it didn't go up in the air a couple more feet, otherwise 
> the coax
> would've likely ripped apart all the switching and dummy load etc at the
> center of the array.
>
>
>
> Badly tangled, I cut the wire and got enough purchase on the tire with a
> stick to pull it back down to Earth.
>
> I was wondering why my SWR was so high to the NW in NAQP CW the other
> night. I guess I now know.
>
>
>
> I am sure the neighbours must think I am certifiable. Fishing in trees in
> the middle of January, untangling what must seem to them like miles of 
> rope
> and wire in a huge snowy field (~1ac.), then later, hauling in a tire 
> out of
> the nearby woods as my reward.
>
>
>
> Oh, yeah. I'm nuts.
>
>
>
> Mike VE9AA
>
>
>
> Mike, Coreen & Corey
>
> Keswick Ridge, NB
>
>
>
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