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Re: [TowerTalk] Getting a stuck wire antenna out of a tree

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Getting a stuck wire antenna out of a tree
From: "Bob Shohet, KQ2M" <kq2m@kq2m.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2017 21:26:28 -0400
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
I want to thank the MANY people that responded to my request for help in 
getting a stuck wire antenna out of a tree.  Very sorry about the several day 
delay in my response but I was making the most out of our October Summer 
weather in Connecticut to work on fixing all my low-band antennas and some high 
band issues.  I received quite an array of responses, some of them truly unique 
and mind-bending.  I will definitely use some of them in the future!

My favorites in no particular order:

1) Drone and cutting blade  - definitely a “keeper”.  I do plan to buy a drone 
for antenna related uses.  I will have questions about which drone you bought 
and why,

2) Rope cutting blade – never saw or heard of one but I will inquire – sounds 
very useful,

3) Chainsaw cutting blade – see above

4) Shotgun  -  I live in deep woods and very heavy forest but I would 
definitely freak out my neighbors because our houses are too close to use one 
safely – but this was an idea that never would have occurred to me.  LOL! 

Bucket truck and several other options not possible here; but good suggestions 
none the less.  Tree climber – would be a possibility (I have a great Tree man 
who lives 1/2 mile from me and I have been using him for my tree work for the 
past 20+ years) but not for this particular branch.  Burning the antenna and 
chainsawing the tree seemed a little “extreme” for this case but would have 
provided some visceral satisfaction.   :-)  And there were some other good 
ideas including a 50’ pole saw – which would still be too low for this branch 
but I never would have thought of making a pole saw that long – this idea I 
will definitely use on other trees.

So what did I do?

The end of the antenna was stuck in place 11’ off the ground.  But I had a tall 
wooden step ladder.  After a lot of thought, and then more thought and 
measuring, I realized that I could potentially pull up the SO239 and raised 
radials to the end of the wire element and then I use a thick split-bolt 
connector to clamp a piece of thick twine to 3” above the end of the wire 
element.  I did that and then pulled up the SO239 (with radials) until it was 
just above the top of the end of the wire element and then I tied the end of 
twine around the SO239 and radials to tenuously hold it in place.  I then took 
the soldering wedge and solder up to the SO239 (the SO239 was inverted with the 
center pin facing up) and with the solder in my teeth and wearing a pair of 
goggles to protect my eyes, I held the soldering wedge in my right hand and 
steadied the element wire in my left and then heated up the wire and the center 
pin of the connector.  After they got hot, I fed the solder in by moving my 
head.   After two tries, I got the wire in and soldered it solidly.  Now the 
element was reattached to the SO239 as it was before. Problem solved!

It was no fun though trying to balance near the top of the step ladder while 
both my hands and mouth were engaged in a delicate act.  Fortunately I have 
good balance and I had stabilized the step ladder on the uneven ground before I 
climbed back up.  A fall off the ladder would have led to some nasty injuries 
because underneath the ladder were sharp rocks, hard pan and and ledge.  
Fortunately it worked.  If it didn’t then I would have had to go with plan B, 
C, D, E, F, G or something more extreme and time consuming and far more costly.

BTW, the carabiner idea is GREAT and I am going to attempt to use that on 
several of my ropes in the future when I need to replace them!

My antenna works now ( I worked 3C0L on 80) and in the process of attempting to 
deal with this problem I learned of several other possible solutions that never 
would have occurred to me, thanks to all of you for your help and insight!

73

Bob KQ2M



Bob Shohet, KQ2M

From: Edward Mccann 
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2017 11:15 AM
To: Jon Zaimes 
Cc: Bob Shohet, KQ2M ; Tower Talk 
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Getting a stuck wire antenna out of a tree

And after you get it out, go to Home Depot, spend $12 on a poly-clad bicycle 
cablelock long enough to wrap around the tree branch or trunk, secure the two 
eyes with a stainless carabiner or threaded shackle (next aisle over) and run 
several continuos black antenna ropes thru the shackle, as in sail halyards. 
Pick one, half way tie in a harkens marine pulley ($15 on Amazon), run your 
wire through, and haul away!

Ed McCann
AG6CX 

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