[TenTec] 160 M antenna

[Larry DiGioia]

All you need to do is use an insulated tower section, get the feed point 
another 10' off the ground, and run (3) elevated radials. Now you have a 
ground-plane, which works as well or better than a ground-mount 
vertical. But not exactly yard or lawnmower friendly...

On 11/08/2013 05:55 PM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP wrote:
> Let's not forget that we're talking about  1 6 0  meters here.
>
> Of course 38 Ohms radiation resistance would be a great antenna but the
> reality is, the vertical antennas most people deploy on that band are more
> in the neighborhood of 10 Ohms (at best).  The ground loss raises the
> impedance high enough to fake the OM into believing he has a good antenna
> because the SWR is not too bad.
>
> It is not difficult to build an effective antenna on 160m when you have the
> space for the radials, even if you can't go so high with the radiator.  You
> just need to use a lot of wire above the earth.  Run the vertical section as
> high as you can and then use 4 top-hat wires.  Then you will have a great
> signal, provided you have a decent radial network below the antenna.
>
> Without tricks, in order to have 38 Ohms on a 160m vertical, it would have
> to be 132 ft. high and have about 60 radials under it.  I doubt that more
> than 2 or 3 people here have ever had or even used something like that.
> I sure haven't.
>
> The bottom line is, if you don't have at least a half acre of land, you're
> probably never going to have a big signal on 160m.  With an acre, it's no
> problem.
>
> 73
> Rick, DJ0IP
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Stuart
> Rohre
> Sent: Friday, November 08, 2013 9:17 PM
> To: tentec at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] 160 M antenna
>
> No one listening to the 38 ohm antenna will be able to tell the difference
> in signal level from a 50 ohm antenna.  There is way more variability in the
> inonosphere than that small mis-match.  Save your time for operating!!
> Gud DX, try 10!
> Stuart Rohre
> K5KVH
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