Let's see...
I put up my main home brew HF antenna in 2017. I posted how I made it
HERE if you want to read about it. Well it came down during the big wet snow last weekend. Not bad for being in the air for seven years.
A lot has been going on around the redoubt and the weather just has not been cooperating till this past Wednesday. So it was time to gather my mise en place for getting the antenna back up. I brought into the cabin the antenna launching tool called the PAAL (Pneumatic Atomic Antenna Launcher or PAAL).
Here is a link to how to build one that I wrote for Americanpartisan.org a few years ago. Boy O' boy, that tool has seen a lot of use since it's build in 2018. This time of year I warm up the PAAL to room temperature so the release valve works flawlessly.
Wednesday, the temperature was in the mid 30's with a slight breeze out of the southwest consequently I had to use Kentucky windage to compensate for the breeze. In short, I had no issues getting the mortar shell over the tree I was aiming at. The issue was reeling in the monofilament fishing line with the paracord attached. At the apex of the tree, the fishing line kept snapping. Well the line had been used over the past 5-6 years a shiton times and had probably weakened over time. Off to the hardware store about 40-minutes away (Nothing is close by the cabin
) to buy a $3.50 spool of 25-LB line.
By the time I got home it was dark and I said to myself, "this is God's way of telling me, give it up for the day".
The next day was turkey day and it was snowing so rehanging the antenna was out of the question. Plus I had to make 3 pies to take to a friends house for the Thanksgiving feast.
At the feast the host, an amateur radio enthusiast too, suggested I needed help. "Many hands make short work of a project" he said. He sent out a call on our MAG SIGNAL site looking for volunteers for the next day. I set the time and two showed up to help yesterday.
We put the new fishing line on old reel. Then pumped up the PAAL to 100 psi and we were ready to shoot our first mortar shell.
In short, from the time we shot our mortar shell till the time we were done hanging the antenna, we were done in about 1-hour. Of course I used the
Counter Weight Block Method.
What I learned,
> Replace the monofilament line every 2 -years or so on your PAAL.
> You can get a good life out of a good counter weight block hang of your antenna between trees. In my case
about 7-years. Maybe even more if the thigh sized tree limb that snapped off with the heavy wet snow, didn't
take the antenna down.
> Have a second antenna in the air as backup. I did have one up but it came down about 8-months ago when we
cut one of the antennas tree supports down as it was a beetle killed Ash tree. I am going to build a Delta loop
by year end. More on that when I do build it.
> Most important...It is good to have friends as
"Many hands make short work of a project" 
73
