Slingshot method for hanging SkyWires.


Guys,

In my youth (19 years old), fresh out of Marine Corps Boot Camp, I
would climb to the tops of trees like a monkey, while friends on the
ground would yell "that's high enough!!" to put up Owl
Nesting
boxes, etc.. What they didn't know was it was much easier that
most
of the stuff the Corps had me doing.

That was then and this is now. Now Walter no longer leaves the ground
unless I have a boarding pass, and a coach ticket.

After reading a few articles I decided to try the slingshot method of
hanging a wire antenna.

Its Pretty easy.

You need the following items.

A fishing pole, a dozen 1 oz. Lead egg sinkers, a good Crossman or
Wrist-Rocket slingshot, a large spool of Trout Line, Large Nails,
a hammer, and a Fishing pole holder, if you can't find someone
to
help.

I've seen ads in radio magazines for a slingshot-fishing reel
combo,
for $100. If you have $100 to blow, take you wife out to a fancy
restaurant. I believe it's a much better investment that this.
The
slingshot, and a fishing rod and reel will set you back about $30..

I use trout line because it is very strong, and given its to be used
in water, its waterproof, and seems to hold up very well, and is
cheap. But if someone knows of another rope that works better, please
let me know.

You can find all of this at your local bait and tackle store. I pay
about 20 cents for each egg sinker, I use egg sinkers because they
are about as aerodynamic as fishing weights get, and because the
shape doesn't allow them to get hung up in the tree branches as
much
as others do, but it still happens.

I have heard of people using a Bow and Arrow. I can see some
advantage to this, but I think the risks outweigh the benefits. With
a 1 oz. Egg sinker, you have to be careful it doesn't come down
on a
parked car's windshield, or dent the hood. With an Arrow, it
could
put a hole in someone's roof, or worse, if you neighbor or his
kids
are outside, they could end up impaled and looking like Gregory Peck
in the last scene of the movie "The Omen". We don't want
that…

When shooting the egg sinker, you want to be on the "Antenna
side"
of the tree.

Take the pole holder, and place it in the ground at an angle, facing
the target tree. Put the fishing pole in the holder.

I have read that if you paint the egg sinkers blaze orange, you can
see them better when they come down. I haven't tried this, but it
makes sense. Having a florescent fishing line in your fishing reel
helps in locating the downed egg sinker, but is not necessary.

If you are right handed, taking the slingshot in the left hand, and
stand with the fishing pole to the right of you. If left handed, do
the opposite. Place the egg sinker in the sling with the fishing line
coming out of the top, and clear from the rubber bands.

Make sure not to stand too close to the tree, you want the egg sinker
to clear the tree, and fall on the far side, if you are too close,
you will be shooting at too high an angle and the egg sinker
won't
fall on the far side, but on the shooting side.

Shoot the egg sinker and pay attention to the direction of where you
shoot, and see if you can judge where it should have landed before
you walk over to the far side of the tree.

Then go find it. You may find that you need to take the fishing pole
and "play" with the line a bit to get the egg sinker to fall
down to
ground level from the higher branches.

If it gets hung up, you will just have to reel it back and start
over. I have about a 50/50 success rate.

Once I find the egg sinker, I cut it off, then tie the trout line to
it and go back to the fishing pole and reel the trout line back over
the top of the tree.

When the trout line reaches the pole, cut the line, and tie your dog
bone insulator on to it.

Go back and cut the trout line from the trout line spool, and take
two large nails and hammer each of them about half way into the trunk
of the tree. The nails should be about a foot or so apart and angled
away from each other forming a cleat.

I like to hammer the nails high enough that some kids don't come
along and decide to undo my work. If this is a real concern, you may
consider using a ladder and nail them higher up on the trunk of the
tree. Plus, the higher up, generally the less visible it is too.

Tie the trout line around one nail.

Repeat these steps on all the trees in your SkyWire system.


Once you run your antenna wire through the dog bone insulator you can
then begin to raise the antenna by taking the slack out of the trout
line. Just begin wrapping the trout line around the both nails in a
loop until the antenna reaches the desired height.

That's about it.


I am currently working on a fuse system that uses a bungee cord, and
counter-weight, so that when bad weather hits, and high winds put too
much pressure on the SkyWire, that the "fuse" will break
causing
about 20 feet of extra trout line to be unleashed, and letting the
SkyWire fall limp, but not letting it break. This would allow you to
easily recover the extra trout line, and put a new "fuse"
back into
the system after the storm passes.

Once I have the dynamics of this worked out, I will post it.
(sometime this fall, I hope)..

Thanks,

Walter
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SkyWires/