Topband: Hillside Beverages

[Jon Zaimes AA1K]

At a previous QTH in northern Delaware, I had a 200-meter long Beverage along one border of my property. One end was at an elevation of 27 meters above sea level, the other end at 9 meters above sea level. 

The wire was kept at a constant height of 3 meters above ground. Beneath it was a steel mesh fence just over a meter high.

This Beverage was oriented Northwest/Southeast. I had feedlines going to both ends and relays so this could be used as a single-wire, terminated Beverage in either direction.

About 500 meters off the Southeast end was a major river more than 1600 meters wide. To the northwest the land sloped gradually higher for several kilometers, to an elevation of about 200 meters.

I found this Beverage to have very good front-to-back and directivity compared to the other direction when switched, and to numerous Beverages I had there in other directions. I heard many, many JA and KL7 stations on it when switched to the NW that I could not hear on any other antenna. And when switched to the SE it was almost always the best antenna for the Caribbean and South America.

73/Jon AA1K