In April QST Hints and Kinks column, page 59 there is a short article by Duncan, WV1J regarding his Antenna Launching experiments. He had the usual problems with slingshots and crossbows and considered RC Helicopters (we thought about that, too, long ago but decided not to attempt it either). Duncan proceeded to try a new idea, or really a variant on a very old idea – the slingshot. Years ago I built a large slingshot for Antenna Launching, but Duncan went a step farther and built a REALLY LARGE slingshot. Based on commercially available water balloon launchers, this monster has a claimed range of 150 yards!
Duncan built a large slingshot of 1.5″ PVC and anchored it with guys and stakes and put the water balloon launching rubbers on it. On one occasion the stakes pulled out and it hit him pretty hard, nearly causing injury. Ouch! (NOTE – PVC can shatter, it is recommended to put wood doweling inside to give it more strength for applications like this).
Duncan reports that this launcher is good for 60 or 70 feet of height! That is not a lot of height, but it is launching a highly visible baseball towing bright yellow line. Much easier to see than the usual monofilament and hard to see small lead sinkers that slingshot launchers usually deploy.
Just to compare that with our Pneumatic Launchers, the other day I tested one of our brand new smaller launchers, the 17 inch long CSV17. It launched a bright colored tennis ball towing 50 pound test line to a height of 130 feet! (They often go even higher, that was a single test).
Thanks for the great story, Duncan! And good luck with your new antennas!! Drop us a line if you ever need to go higher!!!