[Elecraft] 160M antenna at WD8JOL

[Parker Buckley]

I don't know how to reply in a thread, so if this starts a
new topic, sorry.  Also apologize if we're getting off the
K2 topic.  My 160M antenna is an inverted L, but folded back
on itself in a manner similar to a folded dipole to raise
the input impedance.  This helps when the vertical part is
not too high (40 ft here).  This design is presented in the
books by Orr and Cowan.  One side of the antenna connects to
the coax inner; the other side is connected to ground and
the braid.  Ground here consists of 16 #14 insulated wires
in the sod, average about 30 ft.  Obvious area for
improvement.  I used 450 ohm line for the first 121 ft 3 in,
then 9 ft 11in of single conductor to get the overall length
correct.  This accommodates the .95 vf of the line, cut for
1.84 MHz.  My lengths were off a little from Orr's
guidelines, so I spent some time with an antenna analyzer to
tune.  Several years ago I made one with homebrew open line,
which was less finicky to tune and had wider bandwidth.
Using real open line, you don't reduce to the single line at
the far end, since the vf is almost 1.0.  I think it's a
better way to go.  Happy to provide more details off-line.

Parker WD8JOL