[Antennas] Best Performing 160 Meter Antenna

[Lefczik, Larry D]

I built a 3/8-wave Inverted L with a variable matching capacitor at the
base.  I think the wire ended up around 166', I started at 170' and kept
trimming for 50 Ohms at 1840 KHz trimming the cap for ~j0. 

Works great on 160 and the rest of the bands.  Out performs my other
antennas on 10 meters most of the time.  Yes, I have a tuner inside to
tweak it.

Building and installing the antenna was the easy part.  Installing the
ground radials is the work and the rest of the antenna that MUST be
installed.  (I just buried another radial this weekend.)  If you can lay
the radials on the ground it is much easier and more efficient.  If you
can raise the feed point and radials up about 7 feet, you can use a lot
less.

Don't waste your time with a dipole at 40-50 feet.  They should be at
least 150' for DX work.

Read the many books and web sites on antennas until the leaves drop off
the trees.