Topband: 1 wire vs. 2 wire beverage?

[AA4NC@aol.com]

Thanks to everyone here who gave me the input on my question about beverages
in the woods. Lots of knowledgeable guys / good info. here...

I'm continuing my receiving antenna studies - picked up the new ON4UN and
ARRL antenna books at Dayton.

I am trying to decide on a configuration for a northeast beverage. The
beverage will be located southwest of my property (in a neighbor's woods).
My options are:

a) 2-wire beverage fed at the near (northeast) corner with 2 runs (200' each)
of coax. I'd have to build/buy the matching transformers for each end as
well. The southwest direction would not be especially useable here.

b) A single wire (580') beverage fed at the far end with ~780' of coax.
Simple feed, plus I already have a single wire transformer. 

I can't use CATV hardline or a low-loss feedline because these beverages
will be  temporary(winter only). What is the real world level of loss that
is acceptable before needing a preamp? I really don't want to use one as I
hope to use a remote switch for a west beverage as well. 
This switch (Heath/12v switching) would interfere with power supply to a
preamp, plus extra complexity and cost.

Would RG8 or (even better) RG8X losses (~6-7 dB) be acceptable for this
length?

What is the better option?

Thanks,

Will



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