Hanging Pulleys From Trees

Pulleys In Trees?

Ever since I started getting into ham radio, the dream has always been to make contact with people across the globe. It should be easy, right? Get licensed, buy the equipment, and you’re good to go—right? Well… kind of.

I knew I wanted the biggest dipole antenna I could reasonably fit on my property, but I didn’t initially put much thought into how I was going to get it up in the air. Once I received it, I realized I’d need to figure out a way to get it about 50 feet up into the trees—without risking my life. I came up with what I think is the best solution for putting a pulley high up in a tree while keeping both feet firmly on the ground. Alright, let’s get into it.

The Principle

Since much of this takes place 50 feet up in a tree, let’s start with a ground-level demo of how the process works.

The core component I used to make this possible is a custom pulley assembly made from 3/16″ Dacron antenna rope, two lengths of vinyl tubing, and a pulley. I’ll go into how to build one of these a little later in this post, but first, let’s take a look at how it all works.

Basically, but the pulley assembly forms a slipknot that will be placed over a tree branch. Check out the following video to see how to:

1. Throw a pull rope onto the target tree branch
2. Run your final rope through the pulley on the assembly
3. Attach both ends of your final rope that goes through the pulley to the pull rope
4. Route the pull rope through the small loop on the pulley assembly
5. Pull the pull rope to raise the pulley assembly into the tree
6. How to remove the pulley assembly from the tree by attaching a hook to the pulley rope

Putting A Pulley In An Actual Tree

Alright, it’s one thing to demo this process, but let’s actually put it up in a tree.

The video below shows the full process, with the exception of throwing the orange pull rope. That part may seem daunting, but it’s not bad if you use a proper throw weight(Amazon) and a smooth swing-and-release motion. It took me about ten tries to land it where I wanted. Pro tip: wear gloves so the line attached to the throw weight doesn’t burn your hands.

I also spent an unreasonable amount of time rigging a camera on a second rope to capture close-ups of the pulley assembly wrapping around the branch—so I hope you check it out!

Taking Down The Pulley Assembly

Getting the pulley 50 feet up in a tree is one thing—but can we get it down? Obviously, yes. 😜

Using the rope that runs through the pulley, attach a small hook to snag the retrieval loop on the pulley assembly. It’s pretty wild watching the system remove itself from the tree. There isn’t much to this step—just don’t lose the rope that goes through your pulley, or you’ll need to find another way to get it down!

Building The Pulley Assembly

If you act now, for the low price of $19.95… just kidding—I’m not selling these. The pulley assembly is easy to make with materials you can find at your local hardware store. I’ll let the build video below speak for itself, but first, here’s the parts list:

• 1/2 in OD x 3/8 in ID vinyl tubing(Amazon)
• 3/8 in OD x 1/4 in ID vinyl tubing(Amazon)
• 7/8″ Red Nylon Pulley with Stainless Steel Swivel Eye(Amazon)
• 3/16 dacron antenna rope
  • The rope I used
  • A comparable rope on Amazon(Amazon) — highly rated
• Butane torch(Amazon)

Final Thoughts

I’ve been running this setup for about three years now. A bunch of people have reached out saying they’ve had success using this procedure to hang their wire antennas, which has been really cool.

The only issue I’ve run into is the retrieval loop getting blown around in very strong winds. Normal wind doesn’t seem to affect it at all. Two of my pulleys have gotten tangled on nearby branches or on the rope that runs through the pulley. In both cases, I was able to free them by strategically whipping the pulley rope to pop them loose. On my third pulley, the retrieval loop got blown over the top of a big branch and isn’t hanging down anymore. I’m confident I’ll be able to rig something up to fetch it—but that’s a problem for another day.

Follow me on YouTube @MostlyBuilds for any future updates.