Re: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas
I made one somewhat like the one mentioned below. I actually made two, the one was with a 1" lawn sprinkler valve and the 2nd with a much larger valve. Mine looks like a Bazooka & this one below is folded like a trumpet which is much more convenient. You can see mine near the bottom on my QRZ page. A couple of thoughts: The one mentioned below is surely more convenient to carry and is more ergonomic. I couldn't find a price but it looks like a nice kit. I would buy the largest one, you never know where you might be able to help someone who has needs taller than your QTH allows. I use PVC "Spuds", you can see one of mine on that QRZ page. Mine are about a foot long and weigh plenty, the weight helps them fall straight through the branches on the way down (my antennas are in a forest so there is no open space here). Something light like a tennis ball can bounce to & fro on the branches on way down and be a problem when pulling up the antenna with egg insulator at the end. I would use brightly colored paint, the tennis ball is bright enough but will be camouflaged in the summer by leaves. I find lifting and lowering the Spud helps me to locate it as for me, it's always far from the launch point. I mentioned the clothes pin to hold the line. I stressed the spring so it has little closing tension. I put tape on each side of the jaw to make sure the line doesn't get caught on the wood & it pulls free easily with no hang-up or damage. I use a small bike pump. With the monofilament attached it takes exactly 17 pumps to clear the tree. If you have a pressure gauge attached or to fit to the schrader valve, that'll make it easy to get the same pressure every time if you're using different pumps. It's a life-saver of effort. 73, Gary KA1J > Sometime back I bought one of those cheaper launchers that shot a > 1-1.5 oz. fishing weight with fishing line attached. It was scary > because if that fishing weight hit something other that the ground or > the fish line broke you never knew where that thing was going to land. > > > I now have a CSV19 Pneumatic Antenna Launching System like you can see > at www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html. I have used it with a > lot of success and have seen it send a tennis ball over a 105' fir > tree about half again as high. I think with the max 80# of pressure > (think that is what the max is labeled) can get a woven fish line > over a tree at least 160' tall. 100+ feet for sure. The big thing is > to have a lot of fish line on the fishing real and don't forget to > open the bail. If you start breaking lines and try splicing them > together that can be a problem catching on the reel spool. The new > woven fish lines are even smaller and I think lighter than > monofilament. Can't remember how many times I've had to search for the > tennis ball because the 30-40# fishing line broke. Even have one on my > third guy line up on my tower. > > > Wind can sometimes be a problem of course. Was really a problem with > the first launcher using that in Keizer (in town). Hitting right above > the top of a tall fir tree as a target you would be surprised just how > far off one can go. > > > Terry > > KI7M > > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband > Reflector > _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas
+1 on the Ryobi hand held inflator. Much better than carrying a small air tank or heavy/bulky jump start kit. Makes easy and quick work of pressurizing the spud gun. tnx Mike / W5JR Alpharetta GA > On Nov 28, 2018, at 7:00 PM, Grant Saviers wrote: > > I'll second the success with the CSV19 tennis ball launcher. You won't need > the top model for 60' trees but I do recommend the fishing archery spool > option for paying out the line - very smooth and snag free. The PE braid is > so light that one problem is how far the wind drift will take it. Shoot with > the wind if you can. Beats every other method I've seen other than a tree > climber. If you buy the kit carefully RTFM. The tennis ball is weighted > with about a dozen pennies so comes down thru firs easily. > > Be careful, the weighted ball energy is dangerous. Handle with firearm rules. > Also the recoil requires aiming & flinch control like a larger bore handgun. > > A really nifty accessory is the Ryobi 18v battery powered hand held inflater, > especially if you have Ryobi tools. It makes quick work of pressurizing in > the field. $19 last I saw at HD. > > Grant KZ1W > >> On 11/28/2018 15:34 PM, Wayne Kline wrote: >> Terry. >> I never used one of those pneumatic air launchers….. following your link >> looks like a great option. >> In the past I have used a bow and arrow wit the bow having a Zebco spin cat >> real attached. But was limited because I have a 1000 ft road frontage tree >> line and arrows descending can be a problem. >> I ran across a wrist rocket which uses a tennis ball … I got a few hand >> balls seemed to work better falling through the tree branches and have been >> using it in that configuration for a while. >> My trees are not in the 100ft range but more in the 50/60 ft >> YMMV >> Wayne W3EA >> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10 >> >> From: Topband on behalf of terry burge >> >> Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2018 6:04:10 PM >> To: topband@contesting.com; terry burge >> Subject: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas >> Sometime back I bought one of those cheaper launchers that shot a 1-1.5 oz. >> fishing weight with fishing line attached. It was scary because if that >> fishing weight hit something other that the ground or the fish line broke >> you never knew where that thing was going to land. >> I now have a CSV19 Pneumatic Antenna Launching System like you can see at >> www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html>. >> I have used it with a lot of success and have seen it send a tennis ball >> over a 105' fir tree about half again as high. I think with the max 80# of >> pressure (think that is what the max is labeled) can get a woven fish line >> over a tree at least 160' tall. 100+ feet for sure. The big thing is to have >> a lot of fish line on the fishing real and don't forget to open the bail. If >> you start breaking lines and try splicing them together that can be a >> problem catching on the reel spool. The new woven fish lines are even >> smaller and I think lighter than monofilament. Can't remember how many times >> I've had to search for the tennis ball because the 30-40# fishing line >> broke. Even have one on my third guy line up on my tower. >> Wind can sometimes be a problem of course. Was really a problem with the >> first launcher using that in Keizer (in town). Hitting right above the top >> of a tall fir tree as a target you would be surprised just how far off one >> can go. >> Terry >> KI7M >> _ >> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector >> _ >> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas
I made my own. There are tons of plans on the internet for spud launchers or antenna launchers. The designs are basically the same. It costs around 60 bucks to make one, only because you will end up with extra material (PVC tube) that will go along way to making one or two more. These are great club projects. I used a cheap fishing reel (per W1VD's plans) for mine, and it spools flawlessly. The reel is cheap five dollar Amazon special. _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas
BTW, note that if the line is coiled on the tarp in a figure-8 shape, it won't tangle when you fire it. Same trick works when you pack up the headset wire to your smart phone -- when you put it away, coil it around your fingers in a figure-8, and you won't have a tangled mess the next time you take it out. This is how the coastal life-saving services coiled the rope that they had to shoot into the rigging of a ship stranded offshore, when they had to make sure the line didn't tangle. Regards, Art Delibert, KB3FJO From: Topband on behalf of Charles Moizeau Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2018 10:24 PM To: Wayne Kline; topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas Wayne, Ditch the idea of using the tennis ball launcher. Neither it nor the Zebco spinning reel will solve your problem which is basically to get your projectile to reach the target but not go much further beyond it, either into a danger zone or into some other tree. Here's my technique. Get yourself a plastic tarp (Harbor Freight has lots of these). I wanted some extra thickness and weight so I got a silver one that is 10' x 20'. Folded down twice it makes a 5' x 10' surface. I lay it on the ground with the 10' length pointing toward the target. Estimating the distance to the target, I lay out about 15 percent more of the light weight line in an S shape back and forth on the tarp. In my case I have about 300 yards of light weight line stored on a 9" plastic reel used by kite flyers. This has enough weight so that when the weighted arrow has been shot and all the line on the tarp is used the reel jumps about 2' up in the air and brakes the the arrow before it can get into unwanted stuff. I then lower the arrow to the ground, detach it and pull a heavier rope back to where I'm standing. The tarp provides a friction-free surface for the light weight line. The arrow won't seriously overshoot because there's a limited amount of line on the tarp before the gentle braking of the plastic reel. There are some other tricks, but this should get you started in the right direction. Charles, W2SH From: Topband on behalf of Wayne Kline Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2018 6:34 PM To: terry burge; topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas Terry. I never used one of those pneumatic air launchers….. following your link looks like a great option. In the past I have used a bow and arrow wit the bow having a Zebco spin cat real attached. But was limited because I have a 1000 ft road frontage tree line and arrows descending can be a problem. I ran across a wrist rocket which uses a tennis ball … I got a few hand balls seemed to work better falling through the tree branches and have been using it in that configuration for a while. My trees are not in the 100ft range but more in the 50/60 ft YMMV Wayne W3EA Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10 From: Topband on behalf of terry burge Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2018 6:04:10 PM To: topband@contesting.com; terry burge Subject: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas Sometime back I bought one of those cheaper launchers that shot a 1-1.5 oz. fishing weight with fishing line attached. It was scary because if that fishing weight hit something other that the ground or the fish line broke you never knew where that thing was going to land. I now have a CSV19 Pneumatic Antenna Launching System like you can see at www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html>>>. I have used it with a lot of success and have seen it send a tennis ball over a 105' fir tree about half again as high. I think with the max 80# of pressure (think that is what the max is labeled) can get a woven fish line over a tree at least 160' tall. 100+ feet for sure. The big thing is to have a lot of fish line on the fishing real and don't forget to open the bail. If you start breaking lines and try splicing them together that can be a problem catching on the reel spool. The new woven fish lines are even smaller and I think lighter than monofilament. Can't remember how many times I've had to search for the tennis ball because the 30-40# fishing line broke. Even have one on my third guy line up on my tower. Wind can sometimes be a problem of course. Was really a problem with the first launcher using that in Keizer (in town). Hitting right above the top of a tall fir tree as a target you would be surprised j
Re: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas
Wayne, Ditch the idea of using the tennis ball launcher. Neither it nor the Zebco spinning reel will solve your problem which is basically to get your projectile to reach the target but not go much further beyond it, either into a danger zone or into some other tree. Here's my technique. Get yourself a plastic tarp (Harbor Freight has lots of these). I wanted some extra thickness and weight so I got a silver one that is 10' x 20'. Folded down twice it makes a 5' x 10' surface. I lay it on the ground with the 10' length pointing toward the target. Estimating the distance to the target, I lay out about 15 percent more of the light weight line in an S shape back and forth on the tarp. In my case I have about 300 yards of light weight line stored on a 9" plastic reel used by kite flyers. This has enough weight so that when the weighted arrow has been shot and all the line on the tarp is used the reel jumps about 2' up in the air and brakes the the arrow before it can get into unwanted stuff. I then lower the arrow to the ground, detach it and pull a heavier rope back to where I'm standing. The tarp provides a friction-free surface for the light weight line. The arrow won't seriously overshoot because there's a limited amount of line on the tarp before the gentle braking of the plastic reel. There are some other tricks, but this should get you started in the right direction. Charles, W2SH From: Topband on behalf of Wayne Kline Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2018 6:34 PM To: terry burge; topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas Terry. I never used one of those pneumatic air launchers….. following your link looks like a great option. In the past I have used a bow and arrow wit the bow having a Zebco spin cat real attached. But was limited because I have a 1000 ft road frontage tree line and arrows descending can be a problem. I ran across a wrist rocket which uses a tennis ball … I got a few hand balls seemed to work better falling through the tree branches and have been using it in that configuration for a while. My trees are not in the 100ft range but more in the 50/60 ft YMMV Wayne W3EA Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10 From: Topband on behalf of terry burge Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2018 6:04:10 PM To: topband@contesting.com; terry burge Subject: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas Sometime back I bought one of those cheaper launchers that shot a 1-1.5 oz. fishing weight with fishing line attached. It was scary because if that fishing weight hit something other that the ground or the fish line broke you never knew where that thing was going to land. I now have a CSV19 Pneumatic Antenna Launching System like you can see at www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html>>. I have used it with a lot of success and have seen it send a tennis ball over a 105' fir tree about half again as high. I think with the max 80# of pressure (think that is what the max is labeled) can get a woven fish line over a tree at least 160' tall. 100+ feet for sure. The big thing is to have a lot of fish line on the fishing real and don't forget to open the bail. If you start breaking lines and try splicing them together that can be a problem catching on the reel spool. The new woven fish lines are even smaller and I think lighter than monofilament. Can't remember how many times I've had to search for the tennis ball because the 30-40# fishing line broke. Even have one on my third guy line up on my tower. Wind can sometimes be a problem of course. Was really a problem with the first launcher using that in Keizer (in town). Hitting right above the top of a tall fir tree as a target you would be surprised just how far off one can go. Terry KI7M _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas
I'll second the success with the CSV19 tennis ball launcher. You won't need the top model for 60' trees but I do recommend the fishing archery spool option for paying out the line - very smooth and snag free. The PE braid is so light that one problem is how far the wind drift will take it. Shoot with the wind if you can. Beats every other method I've seen other than a tree climber. If you buy the kit carefully RTFM. The tennis ball is weighted with about a dozen pennies so comes down thru firs easily. Be careful, the weighted ball energy is dangerous. Handle with firearm rules. Also the recoil requires aiming & flinch control like a larger bore handgun. A really nifty accessory is the Ryobi 18v battery powered hand held inflater, especially if you have Ryobi tools. It makes quick work of pressurizing in the field. $19 last I saw at HD. Grant KZ1W On 11/28/2018 15:34 PM, Wayne Kline wrote: Terry. I never used one of those pneumatic air launchers….. following your link looks like a great option. In the past I have used a bow and arrow wit the bow having a Zebco spin cat real attached. But was limited because I have a 1000 ft road frontage tree line and arrows descending can be a problem. I ran across a wrist rocket which uses a tennis ball … I got a few hand balls seemed to work better falling through the tree branches and have been using it in that configuration for a while. My trees are not in the 100ft range but more in the 50/60 ft YMMV Wayne W3EA Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10 From: Topband on behalf of terry burge Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2018 6:04:10 PM To: topband@contesting.com; terry burge Subject: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas Sometime back I bought one of those cheaper launchers that shot a 1-1.5 oz. fishing weight with fishing line attached. It was scary because if that fishing weight hit something other that the ground or the fish line broke you never knew where that thing was going to land. I now have a CSV19 Pneumatic Antenna Launching System like you can see at www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html>. I have used it with a lot of success and have seen it send a tennis ball over a 105' fir tree about half again as high. I think with the max 80# of pressure (think that is what the max is labeled) can get a woven fish line over a tree at least 160' tall. 100+ feet for sure. The big thing is to have a lot of fish line on the fishing real and don't forget to open the bail. If you start breaking lines and try splicing them together that can be a problem catching on the reel spool. The new woven fish lines are even smaller and I think lighter than monofilament. Can't remember how many times I've had to search for the tennis ball because the 30-40# fishing line broke. Even have one on my third guy line up on my tower. Wind can sometimes be a problem of course. Was really a problem with the first launcher using that in Keizer (in town). Hitting right above the top of a tall fir tree as a target you would be surprised just how far off one can go. Terry KI7M _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas
Terry. I never used one of those pneumatic air launchers….. following your link looks like a great option. In the past I have used a bow and arrow wit the bow having a Zebco spin cat real attached. But was limited because I have a 1000 ft road frontage tree line and arrows descending can be a problem. I ran across a wrist rocket which uses a tennis ball … I got a few hand balls seemed to work better falling through the tree branches and have been using it in that configuration for a while. My trees are not in the 100ft range but more in the 50/60 ft YMMV Wayne W3EA Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10 From: Topband on behalf of terry burge Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2018 6:04:10 PM To: topband@contesting.com; terry burge Subject: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas Sometime back I bought one of those cheaper launchers that shot a 1-1.5 oz. fishing weight with fishing line attached. It was scary because if that fishing weight hit something other that the ground or the fish line broke you never knew where that thing was going to land. I now have a CSV19 Pneumatic Antenna Launching System like you can see at www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html<http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html>. I have used it with a lot of success and have seen it send a tennis ball over a 105' fir tree about half again as high. I think with the max 80# of pressure (think that is what the max is labeled) can get a woven fish line over a tree at least 160' tall. 100+ feet for sure. The big thing is to have a lot of fish line on the fishing real and don't forget to open the bail. If you start breaking lines and try splicing them together that can be a problem catching on the reel spool. The new woven fish lines are even smaller and I think lighter than monofilament. Can't remember how many times I've had to search for the tennis ball because the 30-40# fishing line broke. Even have one on my third guy line up on my tower. Wind can sometimes be a problem of course. Was really a problem with the first launcher using that in Keizer (in town). Hitting right above the top of a tall fir tree as a target you would be surprised just how far off one can go. Terry KI7M _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas
Sometime back I bought one of those cheaper launchers that shot a 1-1.5 oz. fishing weight with fishing line attached. It was scary because if that fishing weight hit something other that the ground or the fish line broke you never knew where that thing was going to land. I now have a CSV19 Pneumatic Antenna Launching System like you can see at www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html. I have used it with a lot of success and have seen it send a tennis ball over a 105' fir tree about half again as high. I think with the max 80# of pressure (think that is what the max is labeled) can get a woven fish line over a tree at least 160' tall. 100+ feet for sure. The big thing is to have a lot of fish line on the fishing real and don't forget to open the bail. If you start breaking lines and try splicing them together that can be a problem catching on the reel spool. The new woven fish lines are even smaller and I think lighter than monofilament. Can't remember how many times I've had to search for the tennis ball because the 30-40# fishing line broke. Even have one on my third guy line up on my tower. Wind can sometimes be a problem of course. Was really a problem with the first launcher using that in Keizer (in town). Hitting right above the top of a tall fir tree as a target you would be surprised just how far off one can go. Terry KI7M _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
