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Richard Stouffer
03-04-2008, 07:10 AM
We're taking a long weekend and heading to the Thousand Trail's Colorado River camp near Columbus, Texas this weekend. We have made a point of planning nothing but loafing and tinkering and no guests- just the two of us.

I just received the Yo-Yo Tenna and the Hyper EZ Hang kit (a sling shot with a spinning reel). I hope to hang the little dipole to a tree and try my luck DXing from the RV. I'll also try a long wire off of the whip on my jeep and she how that works.

I was wondering if anyone here has used the Yo-Yo Tenna and/or the sling shot and what sort of luck/problems they have had. By the way, I haven't touched a sling shot in, at least, half a century and that one was made out of hickory.

Maybe I'll "snatch" one of you guys on 40 or 20 over the weekend.

73's
Richard-WU5K

Andy N1ORK
03-04-2008, 07:28 AM
Have fun on the trip Rich. Never used a Yo-Yo Tenna, but did try using a home made slingshot/reel combo. They work good, but require some practice. First, make sure you use a large enough weight to bring the line down at the other side of the tree and make sure you use a weight that will not snag in the branches or leaves. If there are a lot of trees, aim high so that the line will come down not too far away. If trees are few, just try to go over it or aim over a good branch. Make sure the ends of the dipole don't come in contact with the tree or leaves. It took me about 5 tries the first time I used one to get the line up just right.
Good luck and have fun!
73

Radio
03-04-2008, 08:19 AM
Maybe I'll "snatch" one of you guys on 40 or 20 over the weekend.

73's
Richard-WU5K

We'll watch this thread for a time/freq.

:popcorn:

k3mp
03-04-2008, 01:07 PM
Make it 20M, 40 is not good for guys on the east coast to try and get into TX....keep us informed on the freq...thanks and enjoy your trip

Richard Stouffer
03-04-2008, 04:18 PM
WILCO on 20 and on keeping you all posted.

Richard, WU5K

Richard Stouffer
03-11-2008, 07:38 AM
OK, it was a bust. Number one, they told me I couldn't attach anything to the trees here so the Yo-Yo Tenna stayed in the bag. I Did get a wire on the 32 foot fiberglass mast and hooked it to the up on the jeep and it worked great on the 7000- thought I had a contact in the Maderia Islands (Portugal) on 20 meters, but before the contact could finish what I thought was my call sign I got piled on by the big guns.

When I was getting out of the Jeep I forgot I had my headset on and the connector put too much pressure on the female in the contol head breaking it. The broken conector is too small for field repairs so I set it aside and decided to set the 706 up in the Jeep. That's when I found out that I had misplaced the 6 pin conector for the power supply to the radio.

So I went to the store a bought a good book.

On the bright side, I learned a lot and I will never underestimate the value of a simple piece of wire as an antenna.

N7OQ
03-11-2008, 06:29 PM
That sounds like one of my trips, if it can go wrong it will go wrong. Sorry about the 7000 hope you get it fixed OK. Every time I go camping I learn something new and I find out I need to buy something else for the next trip.

Richard Stouffer
03-11-2008, 06:33 PM
Thanks. Biggest suprise/disappointment of all came when I filled up on the way home. I Stopped at the same truck stop last Thursday on the way down and paid $3.63 a gallon. This afternoon it cost $3.87.

That was a whole lot more painful than the breakdown on the 7000.

wa8yxm
03-12-2008, 07:53 AM
Tell me more about the Yo-Yo antenna? (URL please)

Many parks have rules against cloths lines.. However I've never been in a park that prohibited antenna lines, including Thousand Trails.. I'm working on a single point mount antenna though (Vertical) since I don't like hooking to trees if I don't have to

Richard Stouffer
03-12-2008, 10:49 AM
Here's a link to the site that sells it.

http://www.hamradiofun.com/yo-yo-vee.htm

The guy security guy who told me I couldn't hang anything on their trees may not have known what he was talking about, but once my XYL had heard what he said it was the gospel from there on.

I was going to run it up my fiberglass mast, but breaking the radio made that a moot exercise.

I'm sure I'll get other opportunities in the future to try it out, but I have heard pretty good things about the YoYo Tenna. They claim you can handle full legal power. However, I would be real hesitant to try full power in an RV park with all of the TV antenna booster campers use.