Hi all,
Another proponent of the fishing-rod method. It does presuppose at
least some wasted youth shivering on river-banks, or at least some
patience as one learns how to cast.
My favourite is a 7ft. glass rod (cheapy from a 'junque' market), 10lb.
monofil and a 2oz. weight. (SI, who?). With practice 70' or 80'
clearances are possible; got a few ridiculous things that
high up in the copious Tulip Poplars with which I am cursed/blessed.
Do it now before the leaves appear. Spray-paint the bobs (buy many!)
white; yellow, orange or red tend to disappear in dead-leaf territory.
Gently jiggling or back-and-forth with the rod is usually all it takes to
get a reluctant cast to eventually reach ground. Don't be afraid to
'cut your losses' and accept losing line and weight if they get stuck;
they're cheap, and as Tom pointed out you do not want to be in the
way of a lump of elastically-powered lead - they used to fight wars
like that . . .
I take a little collapsible rod ($14.99 from K-mart) with me on DX-
peditions; it is somewhat lighter, packs more easily, and is almost
as effective as seven sections of Rohn 25.
Never mind anything else, holding a rod simply reminds me that all
I've ever wanted to be in life is a lock-keeper on the Thames.
Cheers,
Steve W3EEE
3/11/2002 2:43:23 PM, "HighGain" <[email protected]> wrote:
Here is a far better way to get high above 100 ft or more. I know from
experience, I have several trees as supports. Use a small fishing rod, they
are accurate. And you can get higher than 100 foot or 30 mtrs with this
arrangement ;-) forget about bows and arrows hahahaha.
Regards & Best Wishes
Roy
MM0LOS
Dear LFers
Just a few more words of advice to the would-be Robin Hoods or Davids
(as in vs. Goliath) amongst us.
1) Use a proper lead weight with an eye in it instead of a steel nut.
These are obtainable along with the catapult in any angling shop and are
available in various weights. I use a 6 or 8 ozs one.
2) Use the fluorescent orange coloured mono-filament nylon line. Much
easier to see when it is hanging down through the branches.
3) If the weight doesn't reach the ground on the other side of the tree,
don't immediately pull it back but ease it back and forth to try and
bring it down.
4) If that doesn't work, pull it back SLOWLY. If you do it fast, the
line will wrap itself around a branch and you will never get it down.
Do not pull with all your might as you stand a good chance of injuring
yourself as the weight flies towards you. (I speak from experience!)
5) Once you have the mono-filament across the highest point, use it to
pull back some thin cord and then use this to pull across the rope
halyard. Doing it in two stages lessens the risk of breaking the thin
nylon. I use polypropylene for halyards BUT I would think twice about
using polyprop for guying masts as it is attacked by UV and deteriorates
with age.
- I've not managed to get a halyard higher than 60 ft with a catapult,
mainly due to the poor elasticity of the synthetic rubber used as
previously noted. Anyone know of a good source of bows and arrows in UK?
73, Tom G3OLB
|
