Are they fracking serious?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Are they fracking serious?

Posted: 9/12/2015 5:53:27 PM EDT

A few years ago I put up my OCFD using a slingshot, lead weight, and some fishing line. It was kind of a pain in the ass since I was just running the line off of the spool, but it worked eventually. A few months back a storm finally took down my antenna & I figured that I would just buy one of those slingshot/fishing reel deals to put it back up. So I fire up google and do a quick search for an antenna launcher. HOLY SHIT!!! What are these people smoking?
$99 for a $7 wrist rocket with a $2 metal rod attached to hold a $10 fishing reel????

I think I'll try out my kids bow & arrow set this time & see how that works.

Posted: 9/12/2015 6:25:46 PM EDT

[#1]

DIY is always an option ...

"L" bracket, wrist rocket, zebco & a little PVC with some zip ties and a couple of screws.

Nick

Posted: 9/12/2015 7:54:54 PM EDT

[#2]

I don't know what I'm missing either. I use a medium action spinning rod, 20# test and a one ounce sinker.

I cast over the limb I want and pull a messenger line back over. From this, I can hoist a pulley and do anything else I need to do. I have hung one fan dipole antenna twice (changed orientation) and put up three more verticals and ground planes in a grove of mature oaks/sycamores and poplars using this method. To date, I have not hurt myself, killed any personnel or cows, or damaged anything using this method. If I didn't have about 20 fishing rods standing in the corner, I'd use a slingshot rig like Nick's above.

Some of those 'launchers' I see are just amazing and about as overengineered as a professional engineer could contrive.

Posted: 9/12/2015 8:18:23 PM EDT

[#3]

I use an old 40lb bow. Drill a hole in the arrow nock to tie line. Attach to your favorite rod & reel. I have some old (heavy) aluminum arrows with heavy blunt points. I use maybe half draw & that was plenty for my job. Shot line over 75' - 80' trees.

Posted: 9/12/2015 8:33:07 PM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
A few years ago I put up my OCFD using a slingshot, lead weight, and some fishing line. It was kind of a pain in the ass since I was just running the line off of the spool, but it worked eventually. A few months back a storm finally took down my antenna & I figured that I would just buy one of those slingshot/fishing reel deals to put it back up. So I fire up google and do a quick search for an antenna launcher. HOLY SHIT!!! What are these people smoking?
$99 for a $7 wrist rocket with a $2 metal rod attached to hold a $10 fishing reel????

I think I'll try out my kids bow & arrow set this time & see how that works.

View Quote

Yea, but it's a patented product evolved from years of research and development.

Posted: 9/12/2015 8:35:56 PM EDT

[#5]

Use my cheapo crossbow here. Don't know what kinda fancy reels are being used above, but mine never let out enough line before it damped itself out short. I always had to unwind sufficient line and lie it out serpentine on the lawn.

As said above, drill small hole in shaft near or in nock to tie line. I used 25 lb, which was fine for pulling up 3/8 dacron rope.

Posted: 9/12/2015 8:46:09 PM EDT

[#6]

Quote History

Quoted:
Use my cheapo crossbow here. Don't know what kinda fancy reels are being used above, but mine never let out enough line before it damped itself out short. I always had to unwind sufficient line and lie it out serpentine on the lawn.

As said above, drill small hole in shaft near or in nock to tie line. I used 25 lb, which was fine for pulling up 3/8 dacron rope.

View Quote

I use 12lb test line with a 6' bass rod & spinning reel. Fresh line will come off a spinning reel & not tangle. A medium size bass reel will hold more than enough line for most trees. I then have a spool of masonry twine I attach to fishing line. Then use the twine to haul up the Dacron rope. The twine will pull quite a load. It helps if someone will hold the rod, but I have a Y shaped stick I use to prop it up when I'm alone.

Posted: 9/12/2015 9:42:36 PM EDT

[#7]

http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html

Posted: 9/12/2015 10:07:22 PM EDT

[#8]

I have an old kid's bow I used to use for Field Day. Problem was I couldn't get enough of a draw for decent accuracy, so it was literally hit or miss, so I just shot over the top of the tree. Higher is better, and it's only going to be up a day or so.

I laid the line out in a serpentine in front of me.

Posted: 9/12/2015 11:03:43 PM EDT

[#9]

Amateurs...

Posted: 9/13/2015 3:56:52 AM EDT

[#10]

I hear that the cool kids are using RC "drones" to do this now.

Posted: 9/13/2015 5:25:20 AM EDT

[#11]

I've built and used a pneumatic launcher, a slingshot/spinning reel, and a plain slingshot/2 oz weight/roll of fishing line on the ground. The latter was by far the best performing and easiest to use.

Posted: 9/13/2015 8:49:57 AM EDT

[#12]

I'm throwing away my dog ball thrower launcher and buying an Israeli practice grenade.

Posted: 9/13/2015 12:20:43 PM EDT

[#13]

I built my thrower in minutes when I had all the correct parts. It took some trial and error to find a fishing reel that works. I ended up buying "The Hawg 733" model from Academy (I think). It came with 30 lbs fishing line installed. BTW, Cheap reels don't work well. I used a 2 Oz lead fishing sinker painted bright fluorescent yellow. It works great and can launch the weight over a 100 ft tall tree easily. It takes some practice to aim it right and to get correct tension on the slingshot. I attach the fishing line to a smaller rope and then to an antenna rope. It's very important to leave some slack in the antenna support line or to install a counter weight and a pulley to allow the trees to move and to keep the antenna from damage.

Posted: 9/13/2015 4:01:05 PM EDT

[#14]

I did the same as above with an $9 wal mart daisy sling shot and a zebco reel some hose clamps L brackets and rubber tape. --total cost was $15 and it was fine to get my G5RV 40 feet up in the trees.
I am trying for something a little more powerful now so I can get a long wire up over the one really tall tree back behind the house. Contemplated using the Grapnel hook thrower for the AR but may just try a crossbow first and see if that works better first. If I use the line thrower I either need to make blanks or use the FAL with the GL blanks I have for that --actually that is probably a better option since I can turn the gas off and put the gun in GL mode......I have a couple old boxes of conduit string which pulls off the inside of the string roll and pays out effortlessly will probably hook that up instead of monofilament line.

Posted: 9/14/2015 11:31:10 AM EDT

[#15]

I put a few weights in a tennis ball and threw it over a branch. Then I discovered it works better if you attach a string to the ball before you throw it. So I attached a string and threw it over a branch. Easy.

Posted: 9/14/2015 11:42:54 AM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:

http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/index.html

http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx309/ham_test_account/AntennaLauncher_zps0hyohgef.jpg

http://www.antennalaunchers.com/tblpics/csv19.jpg

View Quote

A friend of mine recently got one of those tennis ball launchers (not sure what brand). It was a kit, and on the day he put it together, it was raining cats and dogs. So, he decided to try it out by shooting it in his garage. He only ran it up to half pressure, but still managed to blow a tennis ball through the drywall.

Apparently they work pretty well.

Posted: 9/14/2015 12:53:57 PM EDT

[#17]

Quote History

Quoted:
I put a few weights in a tennis ball and threw it over a branch. Then I discovered it works better if you attach a string to the ball before you throw it. So I attached a string and threw it over a branch. Easy.

View Quote

A 70' high branch?

Posted: 9/14/2015 5:07:36 PM EDT

[#18]

What about your namesake?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Are they fracking serious?

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