An inverted-L should give you some better local station performance, which some
like to have for Contesting, as well as useful low-angle performance.
A vertical antenna, top-loaded or otherwise, should give you better DX
performance, at the expense of poorer local station performance.
I have both a vertical and a dipole at my station, but rarely use the dipole.
You can use 6 x 20’ top hat (presumably horizontal spokes) as Dave has
modelled, or sloping top hat wires as a part of the top set of guys will be
easier to set up. You would probably need 3 x 35’ or so wires. Set the top guy
points as far out as you can, to make the slope as shallow as possible. If set
out as far as your vertical as tall, you’ll have about 45 degrees slope. You’ll
be able to tune the antenna to resonance by adjusting the length and slope of
the top hat wires. An L-match at the base will give you a nice 50 ohms to match
the feed line.
I’ve had top-loaded verticals at my station for years, from too-small aluminium
tubing affairs with too-complex top hat arrangements that were very tricky to
erect, to an almost full quarterwave vertical tower, with small top-hat wire
loading.
73, Luke VK3HJ.
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
From: doug dietz
Sent: Friday, 2 April 2021 7:09 AM
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Topband: 160 meter 1/8 wave
Is a 160 meter 18 meter vertical with hat equal or better than an inverted l
over the same ground plane
Doug. WD8Z
Sent from my iPhone
_________________
Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
_________________
Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
|