OK guys, after several months of deciding. I've decided to put my antenna in a pine tree next to my house. I've heard of people using lag bolts but I was thinking about some kind of straps? Somebody told me to use pole straps. He said they are super strong. Anyone on here have their antenna in a tree? Please HELP!!
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Ideas for putting IMAX is tree.
- Thread starter 007_man
- Start date
I have a big ass Red Oak with an IMAX.
Mine is hanging from para cord. I put about 10 half slips at the top section and the cord is over a limb and tied at the base. It can be lowered easily.
Still secure and plays ok for me.
Mine is hanging from para cord. I put about 10 half slips at the top section and the cord is over a limb and tied at the base. It can be lowered easily.
Still secure and plays ok for me.
Helped a local put up his Imax up in a 45 ft tree.
One thing that you need to consider, is to have the Imax attached to a 10 ft metal mast. Attach the bottom of the mast to near the top of the tree. The Imax needs to have some metal below it to help radiate RF. It will also help all of the antenna get clear of the tree top - it helps.
You will want to make an RF choke just below the metal mast. The RF choke should be made by wrapping 5 coils of the coax you will be using - around a 2 liter soda bottle and tape the windings close together/next to each other with no space. The choke will use up about ~6ft of the coax's overall length. This will keep the 'common mode currents' (strong RF radiation when transmitting) from coming down to the shack level and creating havoc with speakers and such.
Oh yeah; and don't do this alone. Better to bribe a couple of friends with pizza and have the extra help. It isn't as hard as it is dangerous. Tell us about it when you are done. Pictures too - if at all possible.
Trees as a mast.
A friend of mine has his Imax about 60' up a tree.
A good idea is to see if ya can find a spot on top where the branches are crossed together so ya can stick the Imax through the hole or nook the branches cause so it wont go anywhere beings ya cant get to the tippy top of the tree to anchor it. I always thought instead of strap which would be lost after the bark grows around it was to use a heavy rubber bungy strap
cause as the tree grows the strap will expand with the tree.
Just a thought.
Good Luck
God Bless
A friend of mine has his Imax about 60' up a tree.
A good idea is to see if ya can find a spot on top where the branches are crossed together so ya can stick the Imax through the hole or nook the branches cause so it wont go anywhere beings ya cant get to the tippy top of the tree to anchor it. I always thought instead of strap which would be lost after the bark grows around it was to use a heavy rubber bungy strap
cause as the tree grows the strap will expand with the tree.
Just a thought.
Good Luck
God Bless
I'm able to get up my tree pretty easy, so I just climb up and reset the straps every year or so
dont listen to him, make the pole 9 feet so its right at a 1/4 wave:tongue:
in 1998 i lag bolted a clr2 on a 9 foot pole in the top of a 100' pine after i topped it and its still going strong for him
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I don't agree with anyone bolting or lag-screwing anything into a tree. How would you like someone putting screws or drilling holes for bolts in you? The tree needs to stay alive to hold the antenna. Why not use the pole idea, with the antenna on top, running down the trunk, secured with low cost motorcycle or atv ratchet straps at various heights? I would think with around 4 of them, really tight, and you may have to re-tighten them once or twice, until the antenna settles in, you would have a good, secure mounting platform.
just a thought but as a bowhunter this came to mind....They sell a buckle type strap that is used to secure climbing sticks to a tree for hunting. these straps can hold 350 lbs and are available at cabellas or bass pro shops for about $20 for three of them. Thought this may help someone
Sounds like you have personal knowledge of that.
First of all, it was a Scotch Pine that we did this to. That tree is growing just fine still for only having a couple of 6 X 3/8" lag screws in it. I never heard it scream once. Well, maybe just once.
Truth is, when you put a 6 in lag screw 5 inches into a 10 inch diameter apical meristem, they will continue to grow as this one is doing.
But you could strap it as you said.
Will be a bit unstable though.
Also those straps will deteriorate from UV exposure long before those lag bolts will deteriorate from rust, the tree will just grow around those lag bolts, mother nature has a way of taking care of things.
And I do have personal knowledge of that. I received 5 rather large screws that look just like lag screws in the x-rays, in my left ankle about 20 some years ago in an automobile accident from a drunk driver and it still hurts like hell to this day! Thank you. You can purchase good straps, that I would doubt, will deteriorate any time soon. And I'd have to agree, the lag screws would last longer. I have some straps at work, that are left out in the elements all the time, and I work them as if they were new. They are nice, affordable, ratchet staps, used to secure heavy loads. (not the bargain basement ones). Given the diameter of the trunk. and where you will be securing the antenna, they should work just fine and they will last a long time if you put the antenna on a piece of pipe for a mast. If they are good one's, tighten the snot out of them. It may not be plumb, but it sure will work. They are constructed to endure uv's. You could still use lag screws, but I was just giving you an alternative to hurting the tree. You could put a lag screw in you hand, and the wound would heal, in time. Bet it would hurt like hell though.
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And I do have personal knowledge of that. I received 5 rather large screws that look just like lag screws in the x-rays, in my left ankle about 20 some years ago in an automobile accident from a drunk driver and it still hurts like hell to this day! Thank you. You can purchase good straps, that I would doubt, will deteriorate any time soon. And I'd have to agree, the lag screws would last longer. I have some straps at work, that are left out in the elements all the time, and I work them as if they were new. They are nice, affordable, ratchet staps, used to secure heavy loads. (not the bargain basement ones). Given the diameter of the trunk. and where you will be securing the antenna, they should work just fine and they will last a long time if you put the antenna on a piece of pipe for a mast. If they are good one's, tighten the snot out of them. It may not be plumb, but it sure will work. They are constructed to endure uv's. You could still use lag screws, but I was just giving you an alternative to hurting the tree. You could put a lag screw in you hand, and the wound would heal, in time. Bet it would hurt like hell though.
You are comparing apples to oranges.
Yes good straps will last a few years, depending on the weather at the install QTH, but hard to beat the price of a few lag screws.
Wow I wasn't trying to imply I'm a tree hugger as it makes no difference to me how someone mounts their antenna. If it was me I would cut all the trees within 50' of my antenna down and make sure my antenna was at least 25' taller to the base than ANYTHING within 100'. Just my .02