Trial and Error - Open Roads Radio forum for Ham, Amateur Radio and RV camping

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Stouffer

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.

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.

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