[TowerTalk] Tougher antenna rope

[Gary]

Someone mentioned you will get a lot of responses - they were right.

Am I the only one to have the weight thing backfire? One afternoon with some serious wind gusts I watched the weight go up and actually put slack on the line and then snap it when it came back down. You could actually hear it. A few cycles of this broke the copper-weld wire. My solution was to use a spring to provide constant tension.

I didn't see the original wire break, but assumed by replacing it with copper-weld it would last a very long time. I was wrong...

73,
Gary kk0sd

-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk <towertalk-bounces at contesting.com> On Behalf Of n6sj at earthlink.net
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2019 3:13 PM
To: n8de at thepoint.net; 'N4ZR' <n4zr at comcast.net>
Cc: 'TowerTalk' <TowerTalk at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tougher antenna rope

Don-

I use your technique here on tall trees.  Besides minimizing abrasion, the pulley allows the treetops to move in different directions in the wind without breaking wires!  It's fun to watch the counterweight rise and fall along the tree trunk.  At my place it might move up and down 15-20 feet in a big storm.

73,
Steve
N6SJ


-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk <towertalk-bounces at contesting.com> On Behalf Of n8de at thepoint.net
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2019 12:31 PM
To: N4ZR <n4zr at comcast.net>
Cc: TowerTalk <TowerTalk at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tougher antenna rope

Pete,
Try the following:
1.  Place a line over the tree as desired 2.  Attach a rope with a pulley at the end.
3.  Run another (support) rope through the pulley.
4.  Raise the pulley to the desired height.
5.  Using the support rope, pull the wire antenna taught.
6.  Do NOT tie the support rope to a fixed point, but, rather, attach a heavy weight to it to keep the wire antenna taught.

This will keep the rope from being abraided by the antenna moving in the wind, or loaded with ice.

Good luck
Don
N8DE

Quoting N4ZR <n4zr at comcast.net>:

> I have a small variety of wire HF antennas that I've placed high in my 
> trees with a tennis ball gun.  All great except that the lifetime of 
> the rope I've been using (3/16" polypropylene braid with an unbraided
> core) seems quite short, probably because of chafing against moving 
> branches near the tops of trees.
>
> Does anyone have suggestions for an alternative, hopefully an economic
one?
>
> --
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> Check out the Reverse Beacon Network
> at <http://reversebeacon.net>, now
> spotting RTTY activity worldwide.
> For spots, please use your favorite
> "retail" DX cluster.
>
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