[Elecraft] Semi OT: vertical wire antennas

[Rick Dettinger]

When I moved the feed for my inverted "L" antenna from my shack to a  
post set 100 feet from the shack, the noise level on receive improved  
by about 3 S units.  I use an SGC tuner on the post and run the coax  
and power cable in an underground conduit to the shack.  The radials  
are hard to install as the ground cover is heavy brush and I try to  
snake the #14 wire more or less through it.  I only have 5 so far,  
about 30 feet long.  The ground is very wet in the winter.  I seem to  
get good results, probably because the antenna wire is 176 feet long  
and 55 feet high. A shorter wire would be more intolerant of my poor  
ground.  I also have a 43 foot vertical mounted on the post, made of  
aluminum tubing.  The inverted "L" usually, but not always, works  
better on 160 through 30 meters.  On 20 meters, the vertical is almost  
always an S unit better than the "L".  On that band the height is  
about 5/8 wave long and the higher feed resistance helps with the  
ground situation. The two antennas are relay selected by a switch in  
the shack so I don't need to walk out with a flashlight and change  
jumpers anymore!

73,

Rick Dettinger  K7MW


> I can't speak to the losses in the LMR-400 cable under very high  
> SWR, but
> for the record my Inverted L brings the single wire into the tuner  
> in the
> shack. I use a 1/4" acrylic tubing as an insulator to bring it  
> through the
> outer wall into the shack.
>
> Good luck and have fun Lew!
>
> 73,
>
> Ron AC7AC