Topband: Effects of trees

[Alex]

EP Swynar <gswynar at durham.net> wrote:

>Do I understand it correctly that it's far, far better situation to have a
>GROUNDED STEEL TOWER in the immediate proximity of a radiating vertical
>antenna, rather than a LOSSY TREE...?

I have a small backyard. Can't put up towers and only have a few trees. A few weeks ago I put up a coaxial inverted L. The tallest tree in the backyard is supporting the vertical section up to 55ft. The "horizontal" section slopes down at 45 degrees and is attached to the house at 16 feet or so. Right now I have only 4 x 130ft radials on the ground which will increase over time. Even though the antenna covers the complete band within the 2:1 SWR points (due to the largce conductor size), it's far from ideal. Without the tree, I have a bunch of wire on the ground, and no signal in the air. With the tree, I have a bunch of wire in the air and also some sort of a signal. So I'd say that my trees provide me with a tremendous amount of gain. :-) I'll be the last one accusing my tree of being lossy. ;-)

I guess what I'm trying to say is, in what context are we worrying about these things? If your antenna system is close to ideal for your situation, then sure, you may worry about these things. But if you haven't put up the best antenna you can yet and squeezed out every percentage point of efficiency out of your current antenna system, then don't worry if the sap in a nearby tree might be heated up a bit on a cold winter night. :-)

73,
--Alex KR1ST
http://www.kr1st.com