hello there, i would like to ask how you keep your fishing rod -that aids the dipole- vertical or near to vertical?mine is about 2 to 3 cm diameter and some suggest photograph tripod or something like that.any opinions will be welcome,de sv2htc, jim
1 Like
In reply to SV2HTC:
3 short guy wires attached to the pole about 1.3m above ground.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to SV2HTC:
Quickest method I have found Jim, is to use an 1 metre length of Aluminium tubing with about 15mm diametre. This has a corkscrew system on one of the ends!
You then get a chubb key and simply screw the aluminium into the ground, take the screw end off the fishing pole and slot it over the pole! No stupid and silly guy wires, or pegwinders etc getting tangled in your bag meaning it is excellent for a quick deployment and quick get away!! Alternatively you could some how clamp the fishing pole to the side of the soil auger!
If you look at my Flickr page you will see photos of my setup!
You can purchase these items for about 10 pounds or make one yourself!
Good Luck 73
Matt 2E0XTL
In reply to 2E0XTL:
What depth of soil does it need Matt? And how well does it work when the ground is frozen solid?
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Hi Andy I am with you with the guy ropes.If they are all 3 wrapped up tidy and secured with an elastic band they dont get tangled .Its not just frozen ground it is quite often solid rock.73 Geoff G6MZX
In reply to MM0FMF:
Depends on the type of hill Andy! In the puddings of the Brecon beacons it is so boggy that you can normally push it in with out having to screw the item down!
With regards frozen ground, My walking in winter conditions has been limited to SW and MW! Both of these are preety peaty and very rarely get frozen up! Im sure that up in GM land the land may be more prone to freezing! Having said that the strength of the auger is preety good, bit of hot tea on the ground before would most likely help as well!
Geoff 2E0BTR and Dave M0MYA saw the design when I met them on the Stiperstones this time last year and they knocked there own pole up! They have never used the previous system since! Biggest criticism is that on rocky summits it is somewhat useless! However I tend to carry bungees with me and plenty of Velcro strapping! Basically dont take it up Snowdon! HI!
I will put some photos up on flickr this evening!
Matt 2E0XTL
In reply to MM0FMF:
Also, many SOTA summits are associated with archaeological sites or have
sensitive ecology. Not sure that digging holes in them would go down too
well with the powers that be.
Rick.
In reply to 2E0XTL:
Thanks Matt. Of the 200+ activations I’ve done only a 5 or so at the most have been too frozen to get a tent peg into the ground. In these cases there have been either fence posts (a luxury the further North and higher up you go) or sufficient large stones to anchor the guys. The bigger problem is the thinner soil on many of the summits. I think it would work well in the hills to the South (of Edinburgh) where there is often a lot of soil/peat. Or more accurately a lot of boggy nonsense, some of which is thick enough to bear a fat activator’s weight!
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
The Beacons are full of peat so I should be ok with my 6 foot 4 frame and 18 stone of idiot upon the size 12s! The Ground spike is excellent in both Mid and South Wales! However You cant beat a good fence post IMHO or a Trig point with the brass cap missing! At £1.38 a litre for Diesel the days of going for uniques are over for me, however as i know the facilities on the summits I can pack the rigging gear accordingly!
I say we need a good old fashioned lorry driver strike like the early 2000s! That might aid my uniques table!
Matt 2E0XTL
In reply to MM0FMF:
there is often a lot of soil/peat. Or more accurately a lot of boggy
nonsense, some of which is thick enough to bear a fat activator’s
weight!
I resemble that remark!
:-))))
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to 2E0XTL:
At £1.38 a litre for
Diesel the days of going for uniques are over for me.
I’m afraid that is a serious consideration these days. The price of diesel has hit 140.9 p per litre at some local filling stations in my area!
I say we need a good old fashioned lorry driver strike like the early
2000s! That might aid my uniques table!
Indeed! I seem to recall they were protesting about prices around 80.9 p per litre then.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G3NYY:
Im guessing between £1.50 and £1.75 by Xmas Walt! Sorry to Hijack this thread!
In reply to G3NYY:
Indeed! I seem to recall they were protesting about prices around 80.9 p per
litre then.
Prices double every 10 years and the protests where in Sep 2000 when I was trying to move house. The lack of fuel delayed me moving by 2 weeks and cost £44/day in penalties 
However, if the price is only £1.40/l then it’s not kept with inflation so I don’t know why people are moaning! 
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
However, if the price is only £1.40/l then it’s not kept with
inflation so I don’t know why people are moaning!
I wish I could say my income has kept pace with inflation!
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
[It’s called topic drift!]
In reply to MM0FMF:
However, if the price is only £1.40/l then it’s not kept with
inflation so I don’t know why people are moaning!
Hi Andy,
You’re right about that. In real terms, petrol is much
cheaper now than it was 50 years ago. In 1960 the best
petrol was probably Esso Golden, at around 5/- (25p) per
gallon. Now it’s around £6.00, an increase of 24 times.
But the average wages then were not much more than £500
to £600 per year compared with well over £20,000 today.
I never earned that much, but I suppose someone has to
keep the average down!
Kind regards
Dave
In reply to 2E0XTL:
I really like my Passey Products ;¬D Ground Spike too. Geoff 2E0BTR gave me one of these as a gift a while ago. The hand made barley twist on a conical end represents a fair bit of work. Very good on half the summits in the Lake district too and impressed my Dad due to the elimination in phaffing about with guy lines.
73
David M0YDH
In reply to SV2HTC:
Hello Jim,
I have always used guy lines just above the bottom section of my pole & have always managed to find enough firm ground for the tent pegs to hold the pole in place. On frozen ground, or on summits with a very thin soil covering this can sometime be a little awkward, but would be easier than using a ground spike in my opinion.
The apex of my HF dipole is usually at 6m above ground level & in very strong winds a three point guy system may take a few attempts before the antenna & pole will stay up.
I am considering using a full size dipole for 160m mounted on a 10m pole on an activation some time soon, & for that I think using the dipole itself as two legs of a tripod arrangement, with a third guy line from the feed point to complete the arrangement would be more sensible due to the extra vertical loading that would be placed on the pole. I would probably add 3 extra guys half way up to the pole to make the installation more secure.
Ground spikes certainly work, as several stations have already stated, but you really need to consider the ground conditions at a summit which can be very different, even within the same geographical area. Consider using existing features at a summit, in England fence posts are very common & make mounting a pole using a couple of bungies very easy.
I assume that a lot of the SV summits are rocky with very little soil, so methods that are commonly used in other parts of the world may not be appropriate there. A photographic tripod or similar arrangement would make much more sense.
Here are a couple of photos showing my usual guying method, & a photo of a ground spike as used by Tony 2E0LAE. I seem to recall that this is designed for the temporary installation of rotary clothes lines, & I know Tony has had some considerable success using it.
In any case, best of luck with your activations.
73,
Mark G0VOF
If there’s no handy support (fence post, trig point etc.) then I peg the two legs of the dipole and the feeder out in a tripod arrangement. It’s stood up to some really strong winds and after a bit of practice can be put up on your own. If it’s too rocky for pegs, then there’s usually a few big rocks to anchor the ends instead.
There’s a video about somewhere of Richard G3CWI doing something similar:
Of course there’s always the XYL to hold my pole as a last resort…
Ian.
thanks to all for the replies. We really have here rocky tops. altitude is usually around 400m for 1-2 point summit to 2500-2917 for 8-10 point summits. Sometimes rocks help support the fishing rod or the summit’s geo benchmark which is usually a cement cone 0.5m with greek geo society data on it. All in all improvising and imagination is the best equipment on there. 73 es cu on air!
In reply to SV2HTC:
Here i am using an screwdriver for my black widow antenna, the rod is 6m and on the thickest end i open the endcap and pull it over the screwdriver handle placed in the soil, needs not much soil for this. Lost one when an heavy rainshower got me to in hurry rush away so maybee an small line from the handle to the rod for security. HIHI
Before you go out be sure the driver fits properly in the rods thicker end.
Good Luck.