Interesting use for a drone...Ham Radio.

[Army Vet]

I am Amateur Radio Operator. Commonly called a Ham.
I use one of my drones to hang "wire antennas" from trees. I have successfully installed at least half a dozen on my property and several for friends. One of the antennas is an "end-fed that is 270 feet long up in a 65 foot tree.
One of the difficulties is the release mechanism. I have come up with a simple and full proof method. If anyone is interested I would be happy to share.
Using a drone is easier and more accurate than a slingshot, bow and arrow and the pneumatic shooters. I have tried all of them.
73
Bill

 

[MA2 317]

If anyone is interested I would be happy to share.

By all means, share it with us in this thread.

A had a childhood friend whose father was a HAM operator.

If I recall correctly, he had to do the Morse code thing for a while before he could key up the mic and talk to the world. I thought it was cool.

.

 

[Hauptmann]

Hi! Welcome to the forum, from Hauptmann in Hurst, Texas!
Very creative and interesting use for a drone!

BTW, I was a Ham as a young kid in Seattle, operating CW on the 80 meter band with my 75 watt Johnson Viking Adventurer and Hallicrafters S38D. I was only active for a year, until my Novice license ran out. By then I had discovered girls before I could send/receive 13 wpm, as was required for the General Class license in the '50's. Now you don't even need Morse Code.

dah-dah-di-di-dit. di-di-di-dah-dah. dah-di-dit dit di-dah-dah dah-dit dah-dah-di-di-dit dah-di-dit dah-dah- dit dah-dah-dah. di-dah di-dah di-dah. (for the rest of you, I said, "Best wishes! This is WN7DGO signing off.")

 

[PINEBARON]

I am Amateur Radio Operator. Commonly called a Ham.
I use one of my drones to hang "wire antennas" from trees. I have successfully installed at least half a dozen on my property and several for friends. One of the antennas is an "end-fed that is 270 feet long up in a 65 foot tree.
One of the difficulties is the release mechanism. I have come up with a simple and full proof method. If anyone is interested I would be happy to share.
Using a drone is easier and more accurate than a slingshot, bow and arrow and the pneumatic shooters. I have tried all of them.
73
Bill

73's de VU2VIM/G0KUA
Not active at this time but started in the early eighties and was extremely active until 1997.

 

[PINEBARON]

Back then, that's me mobile in my truck.

 

[AP3]

I am Amateur Radio Operator. Commonly called a Ham.
I use one of my drones to hang "wire antennas" from trees. I have successfully installed at least half a dozen on my property and several for friends. One of the antennas is an "end-fed that is 270 feet long up in a 65 foot tree.
One of the difficulties is the release mechanism. I have come up with a simple and full proof method. If anyone is interested I would be happy to share.
Using a drone is easier and more accurate than a slingshot, bow and arrow and the pneumatic shooters. I have tried all of them.
73
Bill

I am Amateur Radio Operator. Commonly called a Ham.
I use one of my drones to hang "wire antennas" from trees. I have successfully installed at least half a dozen on my property and several for friends. One of the antennas is an "end-fed that is 270 feet long up in a 65 foot tree.
One of the difficulties is the release mechanism. I have come up with a simple and full proof method. If anyone is interested I would be happy to share.
Using a drone is easier and more accurate than a slingshot, bow and arrow and the pneumatic shooters. I have tried all of them.
73
Bill

I'd like to see your design and which drone you are using. On the other hand, I have never had issues with the pneumatic launcher. It has gotten the line over the highest trees. de N2KI dit dit dit da dit da.

 

[Rohn]

I am Amateur Radio Operator. Commonly called a Ham.
I use one of my drones to hang "wire antennas" from trees. I have successfully installed at least half a dozen on my property and several for friends. One of the antennas is an "end-fed that is 270 feet long up in a 65 foot tree.
One of the difficulties is the release mechanism. I have come up with a simple and full proof method. If anyone is interested I would be happy to share.
Using a drone is easier and more accurate than a slingshot, bow and arrow and the pneumatic shooters. I have tried all of them.
73
Bill

73's from KD5FB (retired)

 

[Nanny Ogg]

Using a drone for this is probably safer than the other methods too.

 

[KB9Radio]

Been a ham since 1988 and would be interested in how you release the wire. They do make release systems for these, but they're not cheap. Let know when you get time.
KB9BYP

 

[Army Vet]

By all means, share it with us in this thread.

A had a childhood friend whose father was a HAM operator.

If I recall correctly, he had to do the Morse code thing for a while before he could key up the mic and talk to the world. I thought it was cool.

.

 

[Army Vet]

I will write a quick description later. With possibly a better full blown tutorial with pictures soon after.

I got into Ham Radio after Morse Code was no longer a requirement. Over 30 years.

 

[Army Vet]

Hi! Welcome to the forum, from Hauptmann in Hurst, Texas!
Very creative and interesting use for a drone!

BTW, I was a Ham as a young kid in Seattle, operating CW on the 80 meter band with my 75 watt Johnson Viking Adventurer and Hallicrafters S38D. I was only active for a year, until my Novice license ran out. By then I had discovered girls before I could send/receive 13 wpm, as was required for the General Class license in the '50's. Now you don't even need Morse Code.

dah-dah-di-di-dit. di-di-di-dah-dah. dah-di-dit dit di-dah-dah dah-dit dah-dah-di-di-dit dah-di-dit dah-dah- dit dah-dah-dah. di-dah di-dah di-dah. (for the rest of you, I said, "Best wishes! This is WN7DGO signing off.")

Funny indeed. I was studying for my Novice as a young boy. I was up to about 3 Words Per Minute. Then my hormones kicked in and forgot about Ham Radio for over 45 years Haha

 

[Army Vet]

Back then, that's me mobile in my truck.
View attachment 183822

Whoah! You were serious into Mobile!

 

[Army Vet]

I'd like to see your design and which drone you are using. On the other hand, I have never had issues with the pneumatic launcher. It has gotten the line over the highest trees. de N2KI dit dit dit da dit da.

I will do that. I built a pneumatic launcher. And it worked. Just had issues with the line feeding properly. I finally figure out that laying the line out on the ground between me and the tree worked well. At which point I said hmmm I can pull that up with my drone. VOILA!

 

[Army Vet]

Been a ham since 1988 and would be interested in how you release the wire. They do make release systems for these, but they're not cheap. Let know when you get time.
KB9BYP

Roger that.

 

[AMann]

Drones are a perfect tool for HAM radio! I’ve used my drone to lift my little Alinco DJ-C5 credit card radio hooked up to a RadioShack (RIP) simplex repeater above a canyon as a test to relay a signal over it to a buddy on the other side, and also to reach a local community repeater- worked perfectly except talking through a simplex repeater took some patience!

73’s from KC6OXY

 

[Army Vet]

I am Amateur Radio Operator. Commonly called a Ham.
I use one of my drones to hang "wire antennas" from trees. I have successfully installed at least half a dozen on my property and several for friends. One of the antennas is an "end-fed that is 270 feet long up in a 65 foot tree.
One of the difficulties is the release mechanism. I have come up with a simple and full proof method. If anyone is interested I would be happy to share.
Using a drone is easier and more accurate than a slingshot, bow and arrow and the pneumatic shooters. I have tried all of them.
73
Bill

Here is a quick description of my system. I use an old DJI Phantom 3 Standard. Mainly because of the large landing skids. The skids have a brace/camera protector between them. I fasten a stiff wire probe to the center of the brace. with about 4 inches hanging directly forward. Like a refueling probe on a Black hawk. I tie a small loop about 3 feet from the end of the line and pass the probe thru the loop. With a weight attached to the end of the line.

I take off with the line and weight hanging from the probe. The forward motion keeps it there without a problem.

I fly the drone about 15 feet above the tree watching that the line is going where i need it. I fly past the tree about 25 feet. Keeping everything in view. When I am ready, I turn the drone 180 degrees. Hang on to the the line, an observer helps to hold the line. Then I fly the drone backwards and the line falls off of the Probe. Preferably away from the tree. But, I have never had an issue jerking the line and bring the weight to the ground. VOILA.

I use very bright colored line. And I lay the line out on the ground between me and the tree. I avoid fishing line. It has a tendency to get tangled in the tree branches. Also, if trees are directly behind your tree it can be tricky. But that is the case with any method.

 

[Army Vet]

Drones are a perfect tool for HAM radio! I’ve used my drone to lift my little Alinco DJ-C5 credit card radio hooked up to a RadioShack (RIP) simplex repeater above a canyon as a test to relay a signal over it to a buddy on the other side, and also to reach a local community repeater- worked perfectly except talking through a simplex repeater took some patience!

73’s from KC6OXY

Very Cool! I have thought about flying a 26 gauge wire antenna up a couple of hundred feet and running WSPR on it and see what happens. 100 Watts may fry the bird LOL

 

[AMann]

Very Cool! I have thought about flying a 26 gauge wire antenna up a couple of hundred feet and running WSPR on it and see what happens. 100 Watts may fry the bird LOL

You could isolate it with a long kite string- I’ve always thought a WSPR balloon would be cool. I got one of those little transmitters for it but it’s lost in my closet now

 

[Army Vet]

You could isolate it with a long kite string- I’ve always thought a WSPR balloon would be cool. I got one of those little transmitters for it but it’s lost in my closet now

The WSPR transmitter only puts out 200 MW.....so its probably ok. Not sure about the 100 watts. Maybe go QRP to start on HF.