Topband: When does a 1/4-wave sloper bcome an Inverted V?

[John Harper AE5X]

Mornin,

I'm looking at the arrangement of trees in the yard and trying to decide
what type of antenna to build for next winter's 80 & 160m DXing efforts. A
lot of 80/160m DX credit has been given to 1/4-wave slopers in various
publications over the years. As you know, these antennas are usually a
1/4-wave piece of wire fastened to the top of a tower and brought down at a
45 degree angle toward the ground and are fed at the top with RG-8/RG-58.

To me, this sounds like an inverted Vee that's being called something else.
Instead of a tower acting as the counterpoise, an Inverted Vee has another
length of wire the same length as the driven element. What strikes me as
unusual is that slopers are considered good DX antennas for the low bands
while Inverted Vees are most often considered as being good for "local
work". Am I missing something here? Electrically, they sound like the same
antenna.

I need 49 countries on 80m for my 5B-DXCC and am trying to decide the best
antenna for the job given my inability to lay out an extensive ground radial
system for a vertically polarized antenna. Incidentally, the 1st 51
countries on 80m (see web site below) were worked with a low-to-the-ground
Inverted Vee. Or is it a sloper?!


John Harper AE5X
Outdoor QRP & Lowband DXing: http://www.qsl.net/ae5x


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