I use a small plastic pop bottle full of any liquid, whatever you have on hand. I twist the wire around the neck and it holds well enough to toss, but in case of a problem you could jerk it off. I have never had the plastic bottle stick in a tree yet. Rather than throw the bottle from my hand, I spin it with about 4 to 6 feet of wire kinda like a old fashioned sling shot. I can consistently get it 30 feet up and pretty accurate also. The clear plastic bottle full of clear water does not attract attention of park rangers in camp grounds, nice feature. When done I let loose of the wire and the bottle is easy to find in the grass or bushes. The bottle can then be emptied and thrown in the back of the truck for later use. I usually go for a sloper wire antenna and walk away from the picnic table stretching out the wire to judge the length, then toss it over a limb. That way I have a few feet of wire over the limb that automatically keeps tension on the wire with the weight of the bottle. All other weight objects I have tested were either dangerous to throw in the air, not waterproof or cost too much if lost. Besides I like to drink diet pepsi!

I have two extremely easy methods of launching my antennas.

First is my old novice buddy, Neal W3CUV. He uses the underhand throw method with a small water bottle to get the line over a tree branch.

My second easy method is Gerry W2FD who built a pneumatic launcher this past year and can really get a line over very tall trees.

Having two friends who like to launch antennas rather than operate, makes my QRP outings a snap to operate. By the time I have the equipment set up on the picnic table, they have the antenna up! QRP outings are “plug and play” for this old man! Hi.

73 de Bob W3BBO

Well I don’t have any dramatic way of getting line up in a tree but go along the same route as John with a small Plastic soft drink bottle, NOT a 2 liter variety, either half full of water, sandy soil or small stones. I attach Mason line either Bright Yellow or Pink to the bottle, swing it back and forth with about 2 or 3 ft of line out and let her rip. It easily gets up 30 to 40 feet and once you do this a few different times its amazing how accurate your release gets to be!The first few times I tried this the weight would wind up straight out in front or behind me, it seemed to miss the tree altogether. The weight pulls the line over and back to earth. Haven’t gotten a bottle stuck,Yet, but have lost wenches, golf balls etc as they tended to wrap around branches. Ergo, the plastic bottle. It seems to work the best thus far.
73 and good throwing etc to all
Alex K5UNY

I’m going to try the chuckit tennis ball launcher. I have seen this on a few web sites and the idea is sound. For $20 you can’t go wrong, comes with two tennis balls.. I think the only thing tha needs to be added is some weight in the ball. Maybe 5 – 10 pennies to give it some mass so it comes down through the tree branches.

i have found that kite string works reletevly well for getting a small antenna up for a day, but me and my dad easily decided on nylon rope, and it hasn’t broken yet. and ive used many things for weights. old cell phones, tv remote controls, water bottles, even rocks( with the help of duct tape, of course). i haven’t spent over $5 on throwing supplies.