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Old 07-17-2014, 06:08 AM   #10
W7JZE
RV in 2016
 
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Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Patterson, CA (CA central Valley east of SF)
Posts: 92
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wa8yxm View Post
While the idea looks good.. I like 80 and 40 meters, I do have a 100 foot tape (might work with a tuner on 80) but tree limbs 62.5 feet up are
1: rare
2: Hard to toss the pull up weight over.

What I use is currently fifty feet, but normally 83 or 83 feet of wire (14ga) with around 50 feet of nylon (make sure it does not have a wire core) grafted on the end and 2 pound concrete weight on the end of that.

David and goliath method is used to "Slingshot" the weight over a tree, I can routinly hit 20-30 feet, I use a fishing pole (Telescoping) at the RV end if needed

To make weight: Get some sugar free powdered drink mix, Wylers, Crystal light, Store brand, that comes in a paper or plastic "Tube" usually 5 packages to a tube.

I make weights two ways,, Since I have a lot of extra cable I fill em with concrete mix and shove some aircraft steel cable into them, You can also use an eye bolt (I like to leave the nut on) Let harden, and add a clip (or there are ways to loop the rope over.
A shorter length of nlyon anchored a few feet from the other end lets me tie the line off so as to provide strain releave and a common crimp on terminal lets me attach it to a Kenwood KAT-1 Auto-tuner


Current 50 foot wire is used due to lack of trees.. I "Plant" the drive on base for my flag pole under a front tire,,, And.. Run the "Far" (Tree) end of the wire up the flag pole, 50 foot on this RV is a perfect length for doing this.
At Home-Depo I stumbled across what are called "Doobies" or sometimes "Dough-bees". These are little concrete blocks about 3" x 3" x 3" with a loop of wire embedded in each one. They are used when contractors lay re-bar down. They are like little temporary anchors to hold the re-bar in place until the wet concrete is poured over the whole mess. I put 3 or 4 together with a cheap carabineer (about $1.00 at Home-Depo) and use it for a counter weight on my home QTH dipoles.

When the sun comes up I'll take a pix.

The "Doobies" are CHEAP at Home-Depo! I think they might have been just $0.25 or $0.50 each.

Edit: 8-2-2014:
I guess the sun finally came up . I even took the pix. Then I forgot to upload. Anyway... Here are the cheap, Home Depo "Doobies"...
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Attached Images
File Type: jpg IMG_0724-Doobies For ANT Weights.jpg (163.2 KB, 85 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_0725-Doobies For ANT Weights.jpg (98.6 KB, 82 views)
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Bill - W7JZE
"Dar" - XYL
(And our little Bichon Frisé "Sparkle")
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