[Lowfer] Photo of XR Top Hat, and comments

[Andy - KU4XR]

OK;  Jay showed the strongest signal from me last night so far.
Last night I was running with the 4 angled wires from the tip of
the Top Hat cross arms, down 5 feet and connected to the mast.
But; I also still had the HF dipoles connected to the radio, and 
there's no doubt that they were a part of the antenna system.
I haven't ran any tests to see what effect they would have when
grounded, which would make them act like an elevated ground wire.
Or when connected to the radios antenna jack to receive.
Please forgive my OCD, but I am a stickler on anything until I
am convinced that I either have it right, or can't do any better.
Alan Melia commented that the angled wires would shorten the 
effective hieght of the antenna, and I can see his reasoning in 
that. The angled wires became part of the Top Hat, and effectively
cut off 5 feet of Vertical radiating section. If this is the case,
the wires can easily be removed. I want ever Micro-OHM of RAC that
the antenna can provide, so if removing the wires would be better,
then that's what I'll do. I put them on the antenna to try it, and
see what happened by doing so. I really think that I need to leave
everything as it is for a few days, and run the setup as usual to
be able to get a better judgement of antenna performance. One night
can't give definitive results.

Here is the link to the photo of the Top Hat with the angled wires,
I'm interested in any, and all comments on the pros, and cons with
the wires connected.....

 http://ku4xr.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=102976340



Andy - KU4XR - EM75xr - Friendsville, TN. USA
LOWfer Beacon " XR " @ 185.29875 KHz ( QRSS-60 )
Coordinates:  N:  35º 43' 54" - W:  84º 3' 16"

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