[Milsurplus] Underground antennas...tried it....

[icra at galaxynet.com]

In the early 1980's, when you could still get CD info, read some info on buried 
antennas....

Jump ahead a little over a decade....

Was talking to some one at a hamfest about them and decided to try one out....

Mine was a loop around the perimeter of the yard....no attempt to get it on any given 
freq....just as large as I could get it. Most was about a foot down with the parts 
running through flower beds down about 3 feet and a short piece across the 
driveway where the wire was crammed into an expansion joint....Soil is very heavy 
clay.

Yes, it does work....not great, but it does work. Best for NVIS use, but the higher 
bands will get some signal out as well......think closer to QRP TX levels from a 
100W rig...

Things I learned.....

1 use insulated disks to keep the wire centered in your pipe....a very noticeable 
increase in RX vs the wire laying on the bottom of the pipe.

2 use the largest pipe you can...

3 provide a way to remove water....will get water build up even if just from 
condensation....

4 a tuner is a must...automatic or remote if at all possible. I used a manual tuner at 
the feed....constant re-tuning is needed with changing moisture content in the soil.

I pulled the wire out to use on another antenna and much of the PVC pipe has been 
busted up and removed from gardening/repair projects, but most of it is still there. 

May have to try it again sometime....if nothing else, for the reactions when using a 
buried antenna to make contacts....

Mel
N7OKL