From: awoodhull@hamp.hampshire.edu
Subject: Re: Antennas in trees, anybody?
Organization: Hampshire College
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 01:16:33 GMT

In article <1992Aug31.190102.4220@opusc.csd.scarolina.edu>, dfrey@opusc.csd.scarolina.edu (David Frey) writes:
> I would like to hear from anyone who has experience with putting mast-type 
> antennas in treetops. I live in the middle of 8 acres of woods, many of which
> are huge, sturdy oaks that would bend only in the rarest of conditions. I can't
> help but think what great antenna-holders they might make. I am assuming that
> a properly attached vertical would be almost no problem, but a 2 meter beam
> might be a horse of a different stable.
>

A long time ago, when I was in high school I had a summer job as a 
counsellor  at a scout camp. This was about 1958; I had just gotten my
General class license (K1BOW) after almost a full year as a Novice. At
that time the novice license was one year, non-renewable, you either learned
enough in that year to upgrade or you were done with ham radio. I also
got a Technician license when I got my Novice; you were allowed to hold
both. Although  I didn't make any use of my Tech license for most of the
year, by the end I was panicking about getting my code up to 13 wpm (I
failed twice), and in preparation for the possibility of being stuck on
VHF I homebrewed a six meter a.m. transmitter and assembled a converter
from a kit. 

One of the older counsellors (he was really old, out of college and
working already, but devoted to scouts and willing to spend his summer
vacation at the camp) was also a ham. Wayne's call was W1WID. He was
very knowledgeable about VHF, he worked as an engineer for the National
Company which in those days was up there with Hallicrafters as a source
of high quality communications equipment.

Wayne had a Gonset Communicator for 6 meter a.m., which to me  was just
the nicest piece of gear I had ever seen, and a four element six meter
beam. The beam was mounted on a 5 or 10 foot section of mast, the base
of which was jammed over a broken-off stump of a branch perhaps  15 or
20 feet above the ground, in a big old white pine tree. The tree went a
lot higher, so the beam could not rotate more than 270 degrees  or so,
but since we were in New Hampshire and trying to work sporadic E
openings to the South and West across the US it was adequate, and a lot
better than nothing. I don't remember now how Wayne had fixed the mast
in place to hold it vertical; it was very close to the main trunk of
the tree, but far enough out to allow the beam a considerable range
of rotation.  Somehow he had gotten this whole thing up into the tree
in the first place. He did not discover my interest in ham radio until
after camp had started, so he didn't know I would have been available
to help until it was already up in the tree. I did become quite
familiar with this lashup, however -- in exchange for the privilege of
being able to use the station myself I got the job of climbing up into
the tree to rotate the antenna for Wayne. The nature of the Es openings
was such that stations would come in from only one direction for quite
a while, and the inability to rotate the antenna on a moment's notice
was not a real problem. 

I was impressed by this setup; I've never tried anything like it myself
again, and I have never since heard of anything like it. It worked and
we made contacts all over the country with the 5 or 10 watts of r.f.
that the Goonie Box put out. It has always seemed to me it would be
very hard to do something like this with a standard rotator, because
rotators are always designed for a full 360 degree rotation, and  you'd
have to watch the limits carefully to avoid damage. Wayne taught me
that a directional beam, even without all directions and instant
automatic rotation, is worthwhile. In general I've continued to enjoy
many aspects of ham radio as a result of learning that summer that
something less than optimal can still be very useful.

73 de Al Woodhull   N1AW
awoodhull@hamp.hampshire.edu

Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc