When I was a kid, a friend of mine tried to get me into Boy Scouts. The first thing that they tried to teach me was how to tie knots. At that point, I wasn’t really much of an outdoors type, so the utility of knowing how to tie a variety of knots was lost on me. As a result, I didn’t stick with the Scouts that long.
Now, I regret that. Knowing how to tie knots is extremely useful when putting up antennas, especially when operating portable. I did learn how to tie a bowline knot (see right), and that has been very useful, but there are other knots that I really should have in my repertoire.
Well, recently, someone on Twitter posted:
So here’s a statement of fact, and a question: I suck at tying knots. What types of knots should I learn how to tie, that would be most applicable to tying off antennas and such?
He got a lot of great responses, so I thought I’d post some here:
I like a tautline hitch for lines that need to be tightened and then secured. newlangsyne.com/doc/tautline.h… the bowline is good too.
4 knots you can’t go wrong with: -clove hitch -bowline -trucker’s hitch -sheet bend There are lots of fancier, more specific, or frankly better options, but this covers a lot of life. -Tie to something -Make a loop -Tie and tighten -Tie two ropes.
The bowline is my go-to for lots of things, including attaching a rope to the insulator of an end-fed antenna.
I usually revert to trucker hitch.
Clinch knot. Good for thinner rope, won’t slip or stretch with time.
I second all of these. Sheet bend is the all time most useful knot IMO, clove hitch close second. There’s also one called a taut line hitch, useful as well.
Learn the trumpet knot, because it’s fun. Really only used for taking slack out of lines.
Learn the Sheep Shank!
I find myself using arbor knots pretty often these days.
Lots of cool knots here. One site that I’ve found to help me learn these is Animated Knots. This site has short videos that step you through tying a knot. Do you have a favorite site for learning how to tie knots? If so, please enter in the comment section below.
You can do almost everything with a square knot, taut-line hitch, bowline, and maybe a clove hitch. Learning to “throw” a clove hitch can be useful. That is tying it without threading the line. You make two loops and slip it over the post. Perfect for a pole at the end of a dipole on Field Day. I use it to set up tarps.
If you want to learn one more knot, learn the alpine butterfly. It makes a loop in the middle of a line without sharp bends, so it is less likely to break. It is also easy to untie later. The alpine butterfly knots in my dipole were pretty easy to untie after five years. If you are using pulleys, learn a stopper knot, probably the figure-8.
My credentials? Besides putting up antennas, I’m a Scout, a Scoutmaster, and I teach skills to other Scoutmasters. Also a long-time knot nerd, I was teaching knots to youth leaders when I was in high school.
These are the knots taught in Scouting. The taut-line hitch is better than the two half-hitches, and the timber hitch and sheet bend are special-purpose knots. Useful, but not for putting up antennas.
https://scoutsmarts.com/scouting-knots-with-uses/
The sheepshank makes a weak spot in the line, plus it comes undone if there is slack. So not a good choice for most situations. Just coil up the extra line somewhere.