I am about to begin training/testing on my new Tactical 7000hds I purchased a while back. In planning for an upcoming adventure, I need to get used to the setup for this new tool in my kit. Here in the Southeastern United States, a LOT of summits have trees, so I normally don’t need a mast; however, I have been scouting/planning activating this one bald knob and will definitely need to deploy the mast. My main question is this - how do you all attach the antenna to the top of the mast? I imagine some kind of fishing pole eyelet or something, but I though it would be easier to just ask the experts.
A piece of plastic sheet a few mm thick with a hole drilled in it that slides over the top of the pole and stops a short distance from the top. Then I have some kind of eyelet attached to the plastic that I can attach the wire to it.
I use one of these on all my antennas which I bought from SotaBeams.
I use them for both my dipoles (to keep the middle section up) as well as my EFHWs (inverted V or sloper) where I loop a piece of Paracord with this attached to it; so it can slide along the wire allowing me flexibility where to set it up.
You should be able to make your own or 3D print them.
For me this works, others use various contraptions sliding things into the top or using a piece of plastic tubing to attach the antenna to the pole.
I find a 3/4 inch rubber tap washer slid onto the top of the pole stops the antenna attachment from coming off if the pole whips or collapses in the wind.
Andy
MM7MOX
I use a home brew End fed antenna these days made from SOTAbeams wire, a 40m version with a link for 30/17m. To attach it to my Carbon 6 also from SBms I have about 6 inches of venetian blind cord with a home made plastic insulator on the antenna wire. This insulator can slide any where along the wire so I can deploy it in different situations on my summits. To fix it to the pole I tie a half hitch knot on the top section and it has never slipped off in many activations. The hole in my insulator is a similar size as the cord so drill to hole poke the string through and tie a knot in the string. The other end I have a knot at the other end too so the half hitch can lock up against it when tied to the pole. Deploy antenna windward side of the pole and when pulled out it bends the pole to load up the joints and keeps the wire 6 inches away from the pole incase of any interaction with the carbon pole. I arrived at this setup long time ago and even had the same method of tie off when I used a link dipole. Enjoy the hike and the other suggestions on here are probably just as good.
Regards
Ian vk5cz …
For a few years I have been using a clove hitch on the bite and then add a couple have hitches above or below. By wetting the cordage/string before tying it helps tighten the knot when it dries.
A fishing rod end. Use either a carabiner or snap swivel to attach the wire. Hot glue it in, so you can remove it if necessary to dismantle and clean the mast sections.
Have always used solutions with rubber grommets, also used for years by Bruno, HB9CBR, on the 10.90m inv-L multiband antenna used for SOTA/WWFF and the 80m EFHW antenna for the USKA National Mountain Day (NMD):
When I replaced my worn out end fed wires recently, I tried to make the new ones bomb-proof. To eliminate wire flex at the apex, I built in a loop with 2mm wire clamps and thimbles suspended on an old-fashioned tent guy rope tensioner. Three layers of insulating tape below the fitting to keep it at the top of the pole and two layers of tape above the fitting provide enough friction to stop it coming off in a gale. The pole top section still telescopes fully into section two. Maybe over the top, but I don’t fret over high winds so much anymore.
Buy a cheap cutting board from a dollar store, cut in a small rectangle, drill holes. Make a guy ring with hole saw, 1 board makes more than you will use, stronger than 3d print. Photos is some posts already
Buy a bottle of champagne / prosecco or some such fizzly stuff
enjoy the contents
drill a hole in the cork, as the hole tends to close up again, you can take a larger drill than the top element diameter (I think I used something like 6mm or 8mm drill)
provide some fastening for your antenna end
slide the cork on the uppermost element so that it fits snugly, but not too tightly. The goal is to have a fail-safe system, so that the cork slides off when the tension becomes too big, instead of breaking the (sturdy) mast.
if it is to loose, you may begin again with step 1
I use little 3D printed caps with a single hole for attaching a tiny S-biner. I printed mine to match my masts exactly so that the fit is just a bit snug.
