You know those days, when nothing seems to go right? Today was one of those days for me.
All was going fine, and I pulled into the driveway after work looking forward to a bike ride, since it was overcast and not too hot. Then, I noticed that one end of my TEE 80/160m vertical had come down. This explained why I felt weak last night on 160m when working W5XZ and trying to work TI5XP.
Coconut trees are the tallest things around my house, and I use them for antenna supports. Specifically, I use two ~40ft trees as supports for the end of my TEE vertical. The problem with coconut trees are that they have no branches. A line over the top will eventually fall out as the tree drops fronds as it grows – which is exactly what happened to me.
No worries, I got my fishing pole and heavy sinker to heave a new line over the tree. First throw – I miss to the right. Second throw – to the left. Third throw – I hit the tree trunk and the weight falls to my feet. I start getting frustrated. More throws are unsuccessful. I finally get the weight over the top of the tree – but the wind carries the fishing line off to the right and I miss the top all together. Next toss – somehow the line got wedged in the spool and the line goes no where – but the weight – one of my sockets – goes flying never to be seen again.
I get pissed – and throw the fishing rod – which promptly snaps in two. The handle even breaks off the reel so I can no longer use it. Now what?
Fortunately I have a recurve bow – but no arrows. I quickly make an arrow out of a length of 1/4″ aluminum tubing. After a few tries, I finally make the perfect shot over the center of the tree. But the “arrow” does not fall to the ground, and hangs 25ft in the air.
No worries – I go get a length of aluminum tubing, one of my old verticals. I reach up – and find myself 3ft short of the “arrow”. Really? Can nothing go right?
I grab more aluminum and lengthen the pole. I finally get the “arrow” down and pull the end of the vertical back up. This 30 minute project turned into a 3 hour affair, and now it is too late for that bike ride. But hopefully now I am louder on 160 – now that one end of the TEE is 6 inches higher in the tree.