Skyhook Launchers: Choice, Care and Feeding

[WZ7U]

Skyhook Launchers: Choice, Care and Feeding
What do you use to get your favorite skyhooks into the ether? If you are using trees or other natural objects to suspend the wire, what did you do to get it there? If you use man-made structures to get it "up", how did you go about it? This is the thread to let the world in on your past, current and/or favorite methods to achieve wire bound RF nirvana. So, in a thousand words or less, how did you get it up and on the air?

[WZ7U]

This is similar to mine, I need to take better pics.

Shoots tennis balls with compressed air. Fishing reel with monofilament or go directly with the braided masons twine pre-laid on the turf. Tennis balls @ 2oz go quite the distance @40# air.Working on 4oz balls next for better drop speed through the branches, the 2oz run slow and get caught up too much.

More details to follow, as winter and early spring are the best for seeing unobstructed branches to hang off of.

[Juan Largo]

I still use a wrist rocket slingshot with an old Zebco spinning reel on it. I have not used the thing in so long it might need new surgical tubing, if you even still get it.

I tried a bow and arrow once but shot an arrow into my neighbors roof. I pulled it out and never said anything so I guess it didn't do any damage.

[WZ7U]

Oddly enough I went out today for round three of trying to get one leg of the loop up and sure the #@*$ enough, the process failed again. Well, it was more an equipment failure than anything. I had to pull real hard to retrieve an errant shot through the friggin branches. Seems mason twine is stronger than the steel thread used to make the loop on the leader cable I used through the tennis ball. Back to the drawing board...

[WZ7U]

It's a funny thing how sometimes anger can be channeled into a productive thing...

After the failure detailed earlier (clearly a defective part), I made the necessary repair and went about fine tuning my method. I came to realize that launching at 30psi was putting the ball far too far down range. So I dropped to 20psi and then considered the amount of line paying out. After a series of purposefully short shots I determined how much line should be prepared for launch. By slamming the forward progress off at just the right time, it causes the ball to drop immediately, which helps with that downrange issue from earlier. Having all those details worked out it only took two more shots to put the line where it needs to be. So, long boring story abbreviated, the line through the deciduous tree is set. Now I just have to get line into two evergreens in order to put up this three sided (horizontal) delta loop.

Yes, this one is engulfed in ivy. Gotta address this soon.

Next here...

And here...


BTW, I upped the weight in the ball to +- 4oz, basically 50 pennies, from 2oz of sand.

[WZ7U]

Year out and nothing has changed. I can't tell if I'm lazy or just over it right now. I hope I prove myself a liar before the leaves infill.