Topband: What ever happened to the 160 meter "Z" antenna?

[Herbert Schoenbohm <herbert.schoenbohm@gmail.com>]

Many years ago when topbanders were looking for better efficiency and 
something thart would radiate with limited space lots there was the "Z" 
which was essentially a way of feeding a 1/2 wave sloper from a tapped 
coil L/C circuit at the shack end by running the first 1/4 wave of wire 
close to the ground (were it was claimed to do minimum radiation since 
it was voltage rather than current fed) and then sloping it upward to a 
tree or pole with the top portion doubled back horizontal to the ground 
below. It has been many years since I heard of this antenna that was 
supposed to minimize ground connection loss and provide some vertical 
radiation (DX) component. Nor am I aware that anyone has model this 
design as there were even some folded back version to save space.

Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ
> I have modeled it and the results are predictable.  About
> half your power goes into likely useless horizontally
> polarized radiation.  If you instead make a top loaded
> ("T" type) vertical where the sum of the height and half
> the top wire is a half wave, then you get a "voltage fed"
> vertical that behaves pretty much like a half wave
> vertical.  Since the drive impedance is high, you MIGHT
> get away with a much less extensive counterpoise.
> There is some controversy about this.
>
> Rick N6RK
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