[RTTY] 160

[Alan Burgstahler]

I'm not about to put up a dipole 130 feet in a tree, although we probably 
have a few that high.  Here's what I did.

I have an 80-meter inverted-vee with the center up 50-feet in a fir tree at 
the edge of our property.  Actually, it's on the neighbor's side of the 
fence, with a good portion leaning over on our side of the fence.  The coax 
comes down the tree trunk and then snakes along the ground to the garage, 
where my ham shack is.  When I put it up I put a coax connector at the 
bottom of the tree.  It connects to the coax to the garage with a barrel 
connector, normally.

When I wanted to operate a 160-meter contest, I took my antenna tuner out to 
the bottom of the tree.  There I disconnect the barrel and connect the coax 
from the garage to the input of the tuner.  On the "long wire" output of the 
tuner I have dangling (with #12 wire----stiff) an SO-239 connector with its 
center and shield sides shorted together.  I connect the coax coming down 
the tree trunk to it.  I also have laid two #12 wires 125-feet long along 
the fence line, and connect those to the ground on the antenna tuner.  (Yes, 
I'd like to lay out more radials but just haven't had the time, along with 
having to be careful about the now-landscaped back yard.)  What I have done 
is make the 80-meter inverted-vee into a top-loaded vertical, which goes up 
50-feet high.  Just yesterday I finished a home-built antenna tuner with 
relays that I can operate from the shack so I don't have to go out to the 
bottom of the tree and insert the tuner.  Now it's just a switch flip from 
the shack. Should be good on those cold winter nights, especially when it's 
raining (whoever heard of rain in Seattle?).

How does it work?  Well, pretty well, considering what it is.  It loads up 
just fine either barefoot on the FT-920 or with the TL922A amplifier.  Last 
night I heard two Swedish stations very weakly, but didn't get either of 
them.  They were right at the noise level and QSB went up and down and 
sometimes I couldn't hear them at all.  That's the longest I've heard, and 
the propagation to Europe from the Seattle area is much different than from 
the east coast of the U.S., on all bands.  In the 2006 CQWW 160 CW contest I 
worked Hawaii (2600 miles, about like working the east coast from here), 
Alaska, Japan, Netherlands Antilles (PJ2T).  In the 2006 ARRL 160 CW contest 
I worked Japan, Virgin Islands, Asiatic Russia, Alaska, and PJ2T again. 
I've worked all over the US (although the northeast seems to be a little 
harder for some reason) and most of Canada.

All in all, it sure beats not being able to get anything going on 160.  It 
may not be a dedicated 160-meter antenna but it sure works for me.  More 
radials will undoubtedly help, and a better receiving antenna would also, 
although a Beverage Antenna is out because of lack of land space.

I hope this gives someone an idea of how they can make their antenna system 
work on 160 mtrs.

Alan - N7BF

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Anthony (N2KI)" <n2ki at amsat.org>
To: "RTTY" <rtty at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 4:35 AM
Subject: Re: [RTTY] 160


>I think the biggest obstacle to overcome is the antenna.  Many, including
> myself do not have a 160 antenna.  You could load the 80 meter dipole but
> NVIS would be your working conditions to some extent.  Most already are
> aware that to REALLY work DX on 160(or any band for that matter) with good
> results is to be at least a quarter wave up. On 160 that's about 130 feet.
> That's a big tree.  The higher you are the lower the take off angle. It's
> certainly worth a shot, if you have an 80 meter dipole, to see how it will
> play out.  My guess is you'll have about a 700 to 1000 mile radius.  I'm 
> in
> for trying.
>
>
> Anthony - N2KI