[TenTec] Re: Topband: Re: ~ 1/4 wave 160 doublet

[Tom Rauch]

Jim and others,

I'd propose an alternate idea. I'd look into placing a good quality inductor
across the antenna terminals. That might cancel the reactance while raising
the impedance. The inductor would look like a big choke and an open circuit
on most other bands.

The only reason why I'd be reluctant about cancelling reactance in the open
wire line is losses are almost exclusively copper losses on HF. That means
the loss in a mismatched feedline is much worse when impedances are low.

You might look at the feeder on TLA or some other program and see how it
would behave. Sometimes they are OK, sometimes the loss is pretty bad. T
tuners also have more loss at low impedances, and handle less power at low
impedances. Efficiency and power handling go up with higher impedances, and
matching is easier.

Other than those possible catches, I would agree to just feed the thing like
a dipole at your QTH. Unless you can put a small ground system in below the
vertical area, and feed it there.

73 Tom