Topband: Inverted L Construction

[Scott Northcutt]

Hello Topbanders.

Santa came early to the N4JN shack this year.  Out of the goodness of
his heart (and the depths of his garage), Billy, AA4NU, gave me enough
wire to get the inverted L and radials ready to fly and bury
(respectively :-).  As the rubber is about to meet the road, I have a
few questions as to real-world implementation.  Since I don't have tons
of antenna fabrication time, I would just as soon not re-invent the
wheel and if there are potential "gotchas", I would like to avoid
pitfalls that may have been uncovered by previous builders.  If you have
any advice, I'd love to hear it.

My first specific question is as follows.  What is the best way to
anchor the bend in the wire up in the tree?  My current thinking is to
run the support rope through an empty thread spool and then allow the
wire to run over the spool.  This should (hopefully) allow for the tree
to sway in the wind without fatiguing the wire.  The feedpoint at the
bottom will be secured to the tree with enough slack to allow for tree
movement.

While we're talking about the feedpoint...  What is the best way to
connect the feedline to the antenna wire/radial system?  I'm leaning
towards getting a scrap of stainless or aluminum sheet metal from here
at work, drilling a hole to accomodate a panel-mount SO-239 and then
punching several holes along the edge into which I'll secure some
stainless screws/washers/nuts.  The radials will attach there via loops
or lugs on the ends of the wires.  Should the feedpoint then be put in a
weather-proof box?  What about feedline decoupling?  Should several
turns of the coax be coiled up there at the base?  None of the numerous
responses I got after my initial qurery a few weeks ago mentioned
anything about that.

OK.  That's it for now.  I'm not too worried about much else (yet). 
There may be another post but hopefully it'll be of the "This works
great - thanks for all the help" variety.  Thanks for all the advice
you've already shared.  It is much appreciated.

Hope to see you on the band soon.

Kindest 73 and happy holidays.
Scott
N4JN


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