[Hallicrafters]V15#15 - New QTH (Antenna Launching)

[Phil Barnes-Roberts]

At 04:00 AM 4/11/05 -0400, hallicrafters-request at mailman.qth.net juggled 
the keys to produce...

...To get the antenna up there is the fun.

I have a small crossbow with blunt bolts(arrows) to which I tie glass line 
[???] and shoot the bolt over the limb of choice.  I then pull up the 
antenna support line and bring it back to make it a continuous loop Up to 
40 feet I use an 18 inch piece of 1-1/4" plastic pipe with a right angle on 
one end with a short 2 inch piece of pipe on the opposite end from the 18 
inch pipe.  I put a pipe cap on each end.  Before sealing the caps, I 
filled the pipe with dry sand.  I tie the end of 100 foot of 3/8" nylon to 
the pipe at the right angle.
I can hold the end of the 18 inch pipe and throw it up underhand about 35 
to 40 feet.

You can get more height if you swing the pipe from the rope and launch 
it.  Take more practice that way.  Be sure to wear a hard hat- I have the 
bumps to show what happens when the pipe bounces off the tree and/or swings 
in the wind.


>Healthfully yours,
>                           DON W4BWS
-------------------
There are ads in each QST.  I've made my own 'Easy-Launcher' (or whatever 
the trade name is) from an old folding 'Wrist-Rocket' (TM Wham-O?) with new 
rubber, and a yard-sale spinning reel.  A couple of small hose clamps to 
hold it together, maybe a foot of broomstick if you wish to put the reel 
forward of the sling; a few 1- or 2-ounce weights, 
_painted_flourescent_orange_ (or red) and you can practice.  Just watch for 
neighbor kids on the other side...

Another scheme I was planning to use in our built-out neighborhood (until 
the XYL had our 60-ft yellow pine by the driveway cut down; hard green 
cones make great bombs for the squirrels!) is an arch of balloons, sort of 
like I've seen at car dealerships.  A $20 balloon 'party kit' with a couple 
dozen balloons and a helium tank, and a couple hundred feet of good rope 
should do it.

You blow up maybe a half-dozen balloons (maybe more depending how heavy the 
rope is), attach them with kite string to the middle of the rope (spread 
over, say, a twenty-foot span near the center), tie the rope ends together 
to make a triangle, let it go up, and just walk it over your 
tree.  Obviously, you want to try this on a calm day with little or no 
breeze up, but with two of you on the ends, and another spotting from the 
side (binoculars!), you should be able to land it in the topmost sturdy 
crotch of your tree.  No worry about projectiles and the neighbor's 
kid/dog/cat, either!

Then tie on your halyard block with the loop of halyard line attached, and 
rotate that up to the top - one pulling down, the other letting up.  Extras 
you might want to do; tape on  a piece of discarded garden hose over the 
rope end near the halyard block, to keep the tree from chewing-up the rope 
and vice-versa.  You may also want to have your halyard stick out over the 
top branches, whatever combo helps keep your antenna insulator just outside 
the drip-line of the branches.  Let us know what works out for you, OK?

   -From, IIRC, a Hints & Kinks or Antenna Book a few years ago.  Now, 
about that tower...