TopBand: Antenna

[Michael Michon]

A friend and I are thinking of a vertical dipole for 160 meters.  We have a
fire tower 100 feet tall.  22 feet sqare at the base tapering to 6 foot
square at the top.  It is grounded.  We would extend a balloon from the top
for the other half of the antenna.

Is the bottom being grounded bad, good??  We could drop a wire in between
the tower or extend a mast from the cab and hang a hundred foot wire down
if this is better.

Would this be any better antenna for contesting than a quarter wave
vertical? We would have a dipole at 100 feet for higher angle stuff.

There is no electricity at this site, so we have to bring generators etc
and lug equipment up a flight of stairs 100 feet to the top, so I am trying
to figure if this is just an insane idea or whether it is worth a try for
the 160 meter contest.  We normally use a quarter wve vertical on the
ground with about 40 radials.

Any thoughts as to difference in performance betweena vertical dipole and a
qurter wve vertical??

The sight is in southern Mississippi, with poor ground, for both antennas.

Mike Michon
AB5XP

--
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/topband.html
Submissions:              topband@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  topband-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-topband@contesting.com