Re: Topband: Inv-L joy
On 7/23/2013 4:55 AM, Gary Smith wrote: My Inv-l came down again. Went out to see what happened and another storm weakened tree came down it's upper branches brought my antenna down with it. I really need to use a better wire than 8 strand computer cable for the antenna. This CAT-8 wire comes down at least 2-3 times a year. Since I use a spud gun with fishing reel attached to get the antenna up through the trees I am limited in what wire I can use to get up there. I don't have pulleys available with what I have to do the wire is subject to the constant friction of moving limbs the insulation wears away soon enough. I hesitate to buy expensive wire as once the insulation wears away there will be arcing to a branch. Years ago I used to use old telephone wire, the heavily insulated solid conductor zip cord like drop wire but that's not available to me any more. Any suggestion as to a good rugged wire? 73, Gary KA1J _ Topband Reflector Gary, WD-1A military field phone wire is strong, lightweght and very inexpensive. It is available on E-bay. Be sure to use a spring and a counter weight at one end to absorb the movement of the branches and reduce the friction. This method will also mitigate somewhat the tendency for a tree limb to envelope the wire and cause additional problems with wind and moving branches. Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ _ Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Inv-L joy
Gary, WD-1A military field phone wire is strong, lightweght and very inexpensive. It is available on E-bay. Be sure to use a spring and a counter weight at one end to absorb the movement of the branches and reduce the friction. This method will also mitigate somewhat the tendency for a tree limb to envelope the wire and cause additional problems with wind and moving branches. Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ Hi Herb, Yes it is light rugged and it may be the right solution. I used to have some for my beverage although it's gone now. The WD-1A I had was hard to solder well, it was not shiny wire and seemed to have this oxide layer on it I had to work with. Think it was from the Vietnam era. I just can't use springs or pulleys where I'm at. The radial plate is 350' from the house at the edge of a salt marsh and I have to shoot with that spud gun, through small openings in the heavy foliage to just get the wire up there. There's just no place to run a pulley or spring up so I can't have a counterweight at the end. What I have to do is tie the rope at the end to a long thin branch on the ground, one big enough to pretty much stay in place but light enough it can pull upwards a bit with wind blowing the trees. No way to isolate the wire from the tree branches movement at all. All considering I get a pretty fair signal out but the antenna conditions are pretty Spartan. 73, Gary KA1J _ Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Inv-L joy
I use an EZ-Hang slingshot to throw rope over the tree limbs, and then use that to pull the wire antenna into place. I remove a length of the outer insulation from an old piece of coax and, once I see where the rope crosses the tree limb, I slide the coax insulation onto that part of the rope. It's pretty good and long-lasting protection against wear and tear. And like Herb, I use a counterweight, rather than tying the rope tight -- not perfect, but it absorbs some blows without the antenna coming down. Art Delibert KB3FJO _ Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Inv-L joy
I use RF Connection Polystealth 18 in the trees and bushes at the edge of my lot. Very lightweight. 117 pounds breaking strength, way stronger than your Cat 5. It is stranded copper-clad steel with a fairly thick and robust and low-friction/slippery polyethylene jacket and is very flexible and really deals well with going around tree trunks and over limbs and deer running into the wires etc. I think the same stuff is sold by a different name by other ham vendors, e.g. I think Wireman 532 is the same stuff. The copper plating on the this stuff is quite easy to solder to. The 18 gauge stuff is easily tied in knots etc. if you don't want to solder loops at the end, I have use this in experiments to make it easy to change antenna length. There is also a 13-gauge variant if you really think you want heavy duty stuff. I have a 130-foot doublet made out of the 13 gauge stuff that has been up for many years now; it is kept tensioned with a pulley and a gallon of sand. I way overengineered that, it would have done just fine with the 18 gauge stuff. You could probably lift a car with the 13 gauge stuff. Tim N3QE -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Bruce Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2013 12:29 PM To: topband@contesting.com Subject: Topband: Inv-L joy Any suggestion as to a good rugged wire? Gary WD-1A military field phone wire is strong, lightweght and very inexpensive. It is available on E-bay. ___Herb__ I used WD-1A for one, two direction Beverage antenna along a neighbor sensitive boundry. Did not want insulators showing, so just ran it through the dense tree line with no insulators. Thought it may last a year, but three years later it still works fine. www.qsl.net/k1fz/beveragenotes.html 73 Bruce-K1FZ _ Topband Reflector _ Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Inv-L joy
I do the same thing except I hang a 4 plastic clothes line pulley from the rope. The antenna wire runs through the pulley. Ended all the abrasion issues and I can easily lower the pulley if necessary. The actual antenna wire is from DavisRF. 73, Les W2LK On 7/23/2013 4:55 AM, Gary Smith wrote: My Inv-l came down again. Went out to see what happened and another storm weakened tree came down it's upper branches brought my antenna down with it. I really need to use a better wire than 8 strand computer cable for the antenna. This CAT-8 wire comes down at least 2-3 times a year. Since I use a spud gun with fishing reel attached to get the antenna up through the trees I am limited in what wire I can use to get up there. I don't have pulleys available with what I have to do the wire is subject to the constant friction of moving limbs the insulation wears away soon enough. I hesitate to buy expensive wire as once the insulation wears away there will be arcing to a branch. Years ago I used to use old telephone wire, the heavily insulated solid conductor zip cord like drop wire but that's not available to me any more. Any suggestion as to a good rugged wire? 73, Gary KA1J _ Topband Reflector _ Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Inv-L joy
Fellows, Thanks for the many replies off and on list. I appreciate the thoughts and the suggestions for wire and the liability of signal loss and fragility of this kind of L. While it might be possible to somehow get a pulley up via being knotted to a rope, there's just no practical way for me to attach both ends. There is a dense forest cover that is so thick I can not see more than 30' in most directions. The only area I can get a clear view of the the sky to send the spud through is very small, perhaps 8' at the widest. The wide open salt marsh offers no trees and I am using what is for me, the best system I can make. The vertical component has to be at an angle, maybe 75-80 degrees and none of the surrounding trees are very tall. Being on the coast, tall trees do not last long at the tree line thanks to Sandy like hurricane winds. The Spud gun I have made was based on one in QST and the sprinkler valve is a 3 one I found on Ebay. I added a larger open face fishing reel and made an eye for the 50 pound test monofilament line to run through. With no line attached I can get a 2.5 x 5 spud to disappear from view, it has this much power. I use a spud that is 2.5 x 10 and has reflective tape so I can find it in the dense foliage. With the line attached there is enough drag that the distance is reduced. With 20 pumps of the tire pump it is perfect for getting the 160 Inv L over the tops of the highest trees nearby and in the air long enough to get it over the next few trees that it is at least as high as it can be. I envy good antenna installations but with my 60 130' radials on the salt marsh, I still do well. Better is never enough though... I have the 160 inv-L, an 80 Inv-L, and a 40, 30 and 20 meter verticals all attached to the radial plate. A remote coax switch allows me to select which I wish. I have no tuner and select the best antenna based on the strength of the received signal. With the valid antenna selections my worst SWR is 2-1 which the K3 amp have no problems with. 160 works on 160, 15, 12, 10, and 6 meters. 80 works on 80, 17 and 12 meters. 40 works on 40 17 meters 30 only works on 30 20 only works on 20. All considering, I need no tuner and though I don't beat the big guns, with only a few exceptions I've been able to work every new DX on 160 I could hear and I've only missed a few ATNO on other bands that either couldn't hear me or responded to louder signals instead. One thing I have but didn't think to use is flooded 75 ohm cable. I bought a long length of it for the HI-Z Triangle array and have quite a few hundred feet of it left. It has a smooth and rugged jacket and the center is copperweld of sorts. If I were to affix a lug at the end and short the cable/wire together it might be slippery enough to handle the motion and strong enough to be break resistant. Not sure how I would best attach the ring end but I need to think about this. Thanks again for all the thoughtful replies. 73, Gary KA1J My Inv-l came down again. Went out to see what happened and another storm weakened tree came down it's upper branches brought my antenna down with it. I really need to use a better wire than 8 strand computer cable for the antenna. This CAT-8 wire comes down at least 2-3 times a year. Since I use a spud gun with fishing reel attached to get the antenna up through the trees I am limited in what wire I can use to get up there. I don't have pulleys available with what I have to do the wire is subject to the constant friction of moving limbs the insulation wears away soon enough. I hesitate to buy expensive wire as once the insulation wears away there will be arcing to a branch. Years ago I used to use old telephone wire, the heavily insulated solid conductor zip cord like drop wire but that's not available to me any more. Any suggestion as to a good rugged wire? 73, Gary KA1J _ Topband Reflector _ Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Inv-L joy
40 works on 40 17 meters Correction. 40 works on 40 15 meters... Gary KA1J _ Topband Reflector
