[Elecraft] Question about suspending a delta loop...

[Rick McClelland, AA5S]

I have a 240' delta loop suspended at three points about my QTH.  I've been
pondering adding another 47' but this is quite a challenge given the
dimensions of my suburban lot. One thing I'm considering is to make good
use of two trees located in a common area outside my property lines. Easily
said, but I would not want to hang a 5 kg line ballast at either of these
points because I can imagine a couple of neighborhood youths scaling a tree
with one of them cutting a line causing the 5kg weight to crash down upon
the tender skull of the other youth.

Legal matters notwithstanding, my question is whether I'm inviting certain
mechanical failure if I fix the two endpoints outside my property lines and
make use of only a single 5 kg ballast on the tree located within my
property lines. The advantage of doing this is obvious, if any of the
supporting lines outside my property are cut, the antenna falls onto my
property and there is no possibility of injury to the purpetrators of the
dastardly deed.

As a possibly relevant aside, I don't use a typical insulator at each of
the three suspension points. I use a 4" flat acrylic insulator with two 6"
acrylic insulators attached to the end of the 4" insulator such that the
resulting insulating apparatus appears to be a rather large 8" tuning rod.
In my non-mechanical-engineering mind, I imagine that having the insulator
arranged in such a fashion reduces the peak tension at each apex of the
triangle and also allows the wire to move more freely through the insulator
without binding at that point.  I realize that this matter isn't related to
any Elecraft product but there are so many sage OMs here that I feel that
an answer will be quickly forthcoming and without controversy.

-- 
Rick McClelland, AA5S
Fort Collins, CO