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
