[South Florida DX Association] 160-meter antenna

[Pete Rimmel - Marine Chemist - N8PR]

Dave,

Try a 'Half Sloper" --  It is an antenna where you run coax up inside the
tower to the top and attach the braid to the tower.  Then attach the center
conductor to a 1/4 wave wire which slopes down from the tower at between 30
and 45 degrees.  If you still have wire when you get to the ground, and you
will, you run it parallel to the ground at 10 feet.  If you get to a corner
of your lot, turn the corner.

I used this with my 60 foot carank up a long time ago, and only had about a
15 degree angle to the tower, since I had two others for 80 M going in
different directions.  However, I ran it to the back yard, and about half
way across the back yard.  I trimmed and played with the length until I got
a match.

Best DX was KH6 at sunrise using 5 watts on SSB...  Not bad for a humble
antenna.

You can read about the half sloper in QST and the various antenna books.  It
is best to have  good ground on the base of the tower, since the tower
radiates too...  If yo have antennas on the top, that top loads the tower,
and helps resonate the whole thing...  I was lucky that about 15 feet from
the tower I had a well casing for my sprinkler pump.  I noticed a big
difference when I added that ground...  If you don't have that, several
ground rods about 10 feet apart tied to the tower with No. 8 or 10 wire will
help.

73, and HNY

PeteR



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-----Original Message-----
From: sfdxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:sfdxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Dave Novoa
Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2009 1:08 PM
To: FCG; SFDXA
Subject: [South Florida DX Association] 160-meter antenna


Hi fellows:

Does anyone have a design for an efficient, simple 160-meter antenna that
fits in a city lot (about 100 X 110)?

I have tried Inverted "L" and shunt-fed the tower, without results.

73,

Dave

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