A little less spectacular than cannons but reasonably effective in the right sort of trees are small helium-filled balloons.
It takes two people with some open space around the tree. The balloon(s) must be capable of lifting the initial line, but that need only be string or heavy thread. Two lines are tied to the balloon(s). When there's no wind (dawn, usually) one person lets the balloon(s) float up on one side of the tree holding one line, then the other person takes the second line and walks it around the tree until the balloon(s) are suspended above the tree. Then one person pulls the balloon(s) down while the other person feeds out line until the line is resting on the desired upper branch and the balloon is in the hands of person pulling down on the line. Now it's a straightforward process of attaching heavier strings/lines and pulling them through until you have the desired weight line to attach the antenna It seems to work well with Oaks and other types of trees that have large enough branches to support an antenna exposed where a line thrown over the tree can reach them, or for less permanent installations in the upper branches conifers. After all, except for needing two people and a wind-free day to install the line, it's not a really difficult or expensive way to get a line up about as high as you want and you end up with perfectly good balloon(s) when you're done. Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
