Many HF (wire) antennas are hung from trees or strung to buildings, supporting towers etc.

Rope Selection

A high quality rope satisfies the following four requirements:

• High breaking strength: determined by the rope material, the rope diameter and threading,
• High abrasion strength: determined by the rope material,
• Little elasticity: determined by the rope material,
• High weather resistance: determined by the rope material. Sun rays and rain water may damage the rope over time.

The following rope materials comply, in order of preference:

1. Polyester (PL) rope: Dacron^®, Diolen^®, Terylen^®, Trevira^®,
2. Polyamide (PA) rope: Enkalon^®, Nylon^®, Perlon^®,
3. Polypropylene (PP) rope: UV-resistant only when black-coloured.

As a general rule, any materials you will find in a sailing hardware shop will comply with our requirements.

Useful Rope Knots

Attaching Antenna Wire to an End-Insulator, Load or Balun:
Rope with Stainless Steel Cable Clamps

I never make knots in antenna wires, only in the ropes that connect the insulators to the supporting structures! The antenna wire is fixed with two 4mm stainless steel cable clamps to a small length of nylon rope that loops through the connection hole of the end-insulator.

A similar procedure is used to connect the antenna wires to (or as) the strain reliefs of a balun or antenna feed point.

The benefit of attaching antenna wire in this manner is that the antenna wire remains straight. Hence, little additional mechanical strain is put to the antenna wire and secondly, contrary to knots no additional inductance nor capacitance is introduced. The latter is especially relevant when the attachment point coincides with a high-current point along the antenna, as is the case with a balun or a load.

For your information, stainless steel cable clamps can be acquired in a sailing hardware shop.

Tying Rope to an End-Insulator: The Bowline Knot

In order to tie a rope to an insulator, it is convenient to use a bowline knot. The bowline knot is a knot that neither slips nor jams. For added security, add a Flemish figure eight knot as a stop knot to the loose rope end.

Tying a Guying Rope to an Anchor Pole: The Rolling Hitch Knot

The balun was hung from a black PP rope with a slightly adapted rolling hitch knot in combination with a Flemish figure eight stop knot at the loose end.

Hanging a Balun from a Rope: The Rolling Hitch Knot

Reference Work

Peter Owen,
The Adlard Coles Book of Knots,
Adlard Coles Nautical, 3^rd Edition, 2006
ISBN: 0-7136-8152-7