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 Previous: The K7RA Solar Update |  Next: The Amateur Radio Crossword Puzzler |
By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor
October 27, 2006
Visit a Web site that will help you tie one on when you hang your next wire antenna.
Hams need knots. Put up a wire antenna and you will likely support it with rope. To mate the rope to your wire antenna, you will use a knot.
 Animated Knots by Grog visually demonstrates how to tie a profuse number of knots. |
I know nothing about knots. I was not a Cub Scout nor a Boy Scout, so I never received any official knot training. Sometime in my distant past, my old man showed me how to tie a knot. I don't know what kind of knot he showed me, but I have been using variations of my old man's knot ever since with much success, as I have never lost an antenna because of a bad knot.
Along came an e-mail from Eric Sluder, W9WLW, suggesting I check out Animated Knots by Grog. I did and found an informative, as well as entertaining Web site that solved all my knotty problems.
The Web site presents 78 knots in six categories (boating, climbing, fishing, scouting, search & rescue, and rope care). Click on the link for a particular knot and it takes you to a new Web page where a series of animated photographs show how to tie the knot. You can speed up or slow down the animation as required or you can watch the animation step-by-step. The Web site also describes how to tie each knot in words and provides information regarding the uses of the knot, its history, pros and cons, safety issues and such.
Alan Grogono is the "Grog" behind this Web site and although he is not a ham, his Web site offers some excellent information for those of us who use rope in our radio endeavors.
Until next time, keep on surfin'.
Editor's note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, writes Surfin' on a weekly basis without a rope. To contact Stan about knots, ropes or anything else of interest, send e-mail or add comments to his blog.
| Previous: The K7RA Solar Update | Next: The Amateur Radio Crossword Puzzler |
