[160m] Quick Survey

[Ford Peterson]

>
> On 12/30/02 12:40 PM, WD8OKN at WD8OKN@chartermi.net wrote:
>
> >What kind of antennas are being used on 160 meters these days?
>

I have an antenna that would make Rube Goldberg proud.

Rohn 25G to carry a tribander (a 3 element SteppIR @ 45 feet) and has about
125' of top loading wire on a vacuum relay (to switch in a different 80M
hat).  It's guyed with philly and shunt fed at the 40' level using the big
grip as the arm to support the #14 shunt wire.  So I guess I'd call it a
shunt fed inverted L of some sort.

What's nifty about my antenna is that I can tune the 160M load quite
effectively to maintain a <1.5:1 SWR by adjusting the elements on the
SteppIR antenna.  Using this technique, I can load the antenna without a
tuner from about 1805 to 1865 or so.  Without the SteppIR, this short
antenna would be quite narrow.  Using the SteppIR and the autotuner, I can
effectively load 160M from 1.8 to 1.9.

There are only 8 - 50' radials and a series of 8' ground rods for a ground.
Way insufficient but according to the 3830 reflector, I did manage to propel
it to #10 in the ARRL 160M this year (SOLP--Married, which means not the
full # of hours).

It's fun to watch all the folks tell about how they work 160M--the real
"magic band."

Ford-N0FP
ford@cmgate.com