Taking down a dipole from a 75 foot oak tree

Submitted by W3NTP on Tue, 03/07/2017 - 18:26
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Help Wanted

Hi All,
I have a G5RV dipole end tangled in a few branches at the 75 foot level of a Oak tree. I have a good potato gun, lots of rope, and chain ropes but can not get the dipole free so I can re-run it away from the branches. I do not want to spend big bucks for a tree service bucket truck. Any help is greatly appreciated. I live in Bowie, RT 197/RT 50 area.

Thanks
Neil
W3NTP
BloombergMail@Juno.com

wa2mqk - Wed, 03/08/2017 - 07:29

Neil: I don't want to make light of your problem, but at least in my case I'd be happy with one end of an antenna being anchored 75 feet in the air no matter how it's anchored. Why worry about whether the insulator is properly positioned in the limbs and leaves of the tree? Using a good balanced line antenna tuner simply use the antenna as is unless your a perfectionist (in my opinion). You can always run other antennas to complement it as well or use the tangled wire end to attach a new insulator and antenna to. I've been using a bow and arrow with great success shooting fish line into my 100 foot poplar trees. If one gets stuck, I plan to just shoot another line. However, no guarantees on the health of the tree or what your wife and neighbors think!

Bob Weber, WA2MQK