Another Wire in the Air

Success!

After work today, I was able to hang the other end of the antenna in the walnut tree. It took about 10 tries with the bow and arrow to get the fishing line in the right place in the tree. I looped the end of the antenna wire through the insulator and soldered it together (score another win for the butane soldering iron), tied the paracord to the other end of the insulator, and tied the far end of the paracord to the fishing line - and pulled the antenna up into place.

Here is a picture of the matchbox in the tree.

I had *just* enough paracord to tie the antenna off to the chain link fence. This is temporary; I need something a little better. But, it's up.

I went inside to listen to it for a bit. I found a guy talking on 20 meters and switched back and forth between my original dipole and the new end-fed antenna. For at least this case, the new antenna produced a stronger signal with less noise.  I wonder what it will be like when I *transmit* with it!

In the meantime, here is a quick and dirty and out-of-focus video showing the old and new antennas with that signal. If you listen closely, you can hear less noise with the new antenna; you can also see the signal strength jump from 6-7 to 8-9 on the new antenna.

Oh - and yesterday's stuck arrow was waiting for me, leaning up against the fence by the driveway.

But the spark plug socket and paracord are still up there.

Hopefully in the next day or two I will get the opportunity to play with transmitting.  I expect that it might tune differently than my dipole.

73, K9MJA

The Joy of Antennas in the Trees

Things that happen when you use a bow and arrow to hang a new antenna in a couple trees:

1. You read an article about using a bow and arrow (or slingshot or fishing reel) to hang antennas. From this you learn that you need to shoot fishing line through the tree, and then use it to pull your desired rope/wire back through the tree. You figure this ought to take about a half hour.
2. You try about 10 times to get the line in the right place in the first tree. You finally succeed, run up a 50 foot length of paracord, and attach it to the matchbox transformer. Both the transformer and the other end of the paracord are about 5 feet off the ground, which means you've gone over a branch about 25 feet up. Not too bad.
3. You try about 20 times to get the line in the right place in the second tree. During this time, you continually forget to watch where you are walking and keep getting your feet tangled up in the 100 feet of fishing line lying loosely in the grass. On about the 20th attempt, the arrow gets stuck in the tree branches.
4. You pick a replacement arrow whose fletching is bright yellow so that you can see it better. You try about 5 more times before getting that arrow also stuck in the second tree.
5. You decide to get at least one of the arrows out of the tree. You find the first arrow about 30 feet up. It takes about 70 attempts (along with a trip inside to the A/C and a glass of water) to hit it with a soccer ball in order to knock it out of the tree. During this time, the soccer ball ends up on the other side of the fence four times, requiring you to take a little walk to get to the other side of the fence in order to retrieve it. You now have your first arrow back. You still haven't found the other arrow. Its more-visible fletching now seems ironically irrelevant. It's gonna really surprise someone when the next windy day causes it to end up in the driveway next to the fence.
6. You line up your next shot with the newly recovered arrow and fire - only to have the fishing line immediately detach from the arrow. You hear the arrow bounce off of your neighbor's tree about a hundred feet away and then you have to go find it (since you can't follow the fishing line, which is lying at your feet). The arrow is sticking in the ground next to their shed. You're thankful they're not out in their backyard watching you and trying to stifle their laughter (or wondering why you're trying to rain arrows down on them).
7. You try about 10 more times and get a good shot. You tie some paracord onto the fishing line and tie a spark plug socket (for weight) onto the other end of the paracord. You pull it back and try to let the cord and socket drop through the tree on your side of the fence, only to have the paracord end up wrapped around a branch. You cut the fishing line loose and leave it (and the paracord and the socket) about 25 feet up in the tree. You make a note that you need to buy a replacement spark plug socket.
8. You decide that the walnut tree at the corner of the yard (with its lone branch about 35 feet up) might make a much better second tree, so you stop to regroup and get some help from your son-in-law.
9. You realize that you still need to get the antenna wire through the first tree, so you take about 5 attempts to shoot a second line through the first tree. You attach the antenna wire to this line and pull it through the tree. You hook the antenna wire to the matchbox transformer (along with the counterpoise and your RG8X feedline with its 1:1 toroid RF choke) and pull the matchbox about 25 feet up in the tree. Success. You tie it off to the tree.
10. You realize that you've now been outside for over 2 hours, and that church is in less than an hour. You're a sweaty mess and you desperately need a shower. You tie a knot in the loose end of the antenna wire, put it around the arrow, and drive the arrow into the ground. You'll return in the next day or so (hopefully) to hang the other end of the antenna from the walnut tree.

Further bulletins (and pictures) as events warrant.

A quiet couple months

Busy, busy, busy...

First, my older daughter got married in May.  That took up all of my spare time for a couple weeks.  And then it was a business trip, and helping my younger daughter with her 4-H projects...  and the bands have just been really noisy.  I haven't made an HF contact since May 23rd.  Granted, I've only spent a total of about 30 minutes trying.

My older daughter got her Tech license about 3 weeks ago; I gave her a cheap handheld as a reward.  She and I have been having fun seeing which antennas work better and how far we can push the range on our little radios.

My Next Antenna

I decided to pick up a W4KGH End Fed Matchbox Antenna from eBay.  I thought about building one, but after pricing out the various parts I decided to just buy the kit (and a couple toroids for RF chokes):

I also picked up 50 feet of RG8X (with PL259s on each end) from Amazon.  I love Amazon; I ordered the coax at 5:30 p.m. and it was at the house by 11 a.m. the next day.

I wound 8 turns of the coax through the toroid and tie-wrapped it all up.  Then, having picked out two trees in the yard, and having read an article on hanging antennas in the trees, I set out with a bow and arrow and (as it turns out) an oversupply of confidence.  That story warrants its own post, so that's next.

73, K9MJA