Hi Randy,

I also would like to get my 160 meter inverted L to work on 80, and your email has made me think about a solution.  I'm thinking that adding a separate radiator with a bit of spacing, may be a solution. I will try this at some point, but at the present, it is a couple projects and a few degrees warmer down the road. I'm listening carefully for the solution.

I am afraid that adding another radiator will cause some problems. The two radiators will likely couple but eznec would tell.

The trap solution seems interesting but it would need to be light weight as it is going to hang in the air. Also tuning would be more involved now (wire length before trap affects 80m+160m and after the trap 160m). But it certainly can be done. One lazy solution would be to buy, for example, Kelemen full length 160/80 dipole that has such traps (good construction and light weight traps rated up to 2 kW). Those dipoles are somewhat pricey though ($240 or so). One would get two traps from one of those. I will probably try to make the trap when it gets warmer.

By the way, great job last night on 160. I saw you work several stations while I was at the operating position from about 8:30pm to just after midnight. 

Thanks. I was running remote to my shack with my cell phone :-) Somewhat cumbersome to use, so I decided to buy a cheap laptop for this purpose (remote desktop). Can't do cw/ssb remote yet until Elecraft comes up with the k4/0. Staying in the shack at night would not be fun as the thermal insulation is not that great (last night the temp there fell down to 34 F). This morning I was all prepared for sunrise and then, of course, there was a computer glitch which I could not fix by typing from the phone. Did not want to start driving to the shack (= wake up the dog and everyone else), so I missed all the fun :-(

My transmission side is fairly good now but receiving sucks. When I set up the antenna, I was glad to find suitable trees to hang the wires from. After putting everything together, I immediately noticed some buzzing on 160m and at that moment I felt those "donkeys ears" growing in my head.... I then remembered that there is underground power cable that is located right under the antenna!!
I don't have too many suitable trees, so in order to move it, I would need to get some poles to set it up. Probably better to have separate receiving antenna (which I will need anyway for 160/80). Joel has made a great doc for this but this will have to be later...

Anyway, I am still putting up temporary stuff so that I can keep myself entertained. The actual antennas require more careful thinking and planning.

Jussi (AA6KJ)