Antenna Installation - Take 1

[W1GUH]

Having just been through that exercise, I"m confident that the slingshot will work just fine. Spent an entire morning trying the "twirl and let go" method and all I've got to show for it is a dent in the roof of my car. With a slingshot I got it first try.

But you're doing something horribly wrong. It's way, way, way, way, way, way too nice out today for antenna work. If you put up an antenna in this kind of wx you'll be lucky if it gets out at all AND it'll come down within a week. Simply because the wx is too good.

I'd say wait for the first day of sleet/freezing rain -- you know, one of those uncomfortably cold days when the wind cuts to the bone. Antennas erected in that kind of wx will have lots of gain (over an antenna put up in beautiful wx) AND will last forever and ever. Your great great grandkids, at least, will still be using it!

This is a fundamental law of physics:

"The goodness of a wire antenna is inversely proportional to he square of the niceness of the wx!"

[N6YG]

I built a launcher from a kit at http://www.akbeng.com/products/anten...sv19-launcher/

It absolutely ROCKS. Now the only reason my loop isn't back up is laziness... and frequent fall color drives with the Miata.

The launch I build is a modified version of that same launcher. It's well worth the effort to build. When it comes to the ease of hanging antennas in trees there's absolutely no comparison between a pneumatic tennis ball launcher and a wrist rocket.

The pneumatic launcher is much safer and much more precise. With the pneumatic launcher its a one shot deal whereas with the wrist rocket it will most likely take quite a few tries. Also keep in mind that a tennis ball won't take out an eye or break a window and its much easer to see hanging in the tree.

Again there's simply no comparison. It's like comparing a life jacket to a life raft or a mill and lathe to a hand file and pocket knife or maybe even better yet it's like comparing a cigarette lighter to a soldering gun. Can you imagine trying to solder a PL259 to coax with a cigarette lighter vs a big soldering iron ? Well thats about the difference between a pneumatic tennis ball launch vs a sling shot.