*  250 feet of insulated wire strung out in 030 degrees direction toward EU, 
pretty straight, varying in height from 4 to 6 feet, running through thick 
brush with no metal objects or artificial elements along the run.
This is a bit high for a beverage.
  *  9:1 transformer at feed point with ground rod
The transformer is critical. a binocular transformer with the primary and 
secondary insulated from each other is really important. Also the ground for 
the coax side should not share the same ground as the wire ground, the primary 
must stay independent with only the transformer coupling to the beverage.
  *  300 feet of coax, mix of RG-8, MMR-400 to get to the edge of the woods 
from the house
OK
  *  No terminating resistor
Absolutely a no-no.  Your "beverage" is actually working as a 1/2 wave end fed 
wire, particularly up as high as you have it.  Terminate, terminate, 
terminate!!! -----------You might be better off dropping the wire to the ground 
as a bog, 250' is close to optimum for it; something to try....?
Greg---------------------Greg Chartrand - W7MYRichland, WA.  
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