Topband: Easy and Effective 160 antenna

[Tim Duffy K3LR]

For the ARRL 160 contest a few weekends ago, I needed a quick and easy way to
get on TopBand from my Oklahoma QTH.
I am in a very antenna restricted area and my back yard is only 50 ft deep.

I purchased 450 ft of #16 insulated THHN  wire (about $45.00). I cut three 132
ft lengths. I soldered one length on to the center of a SO239 chassis mount (UHF
female) connector. The other end of this wire I curled around for a string. The
other two 132 ft pcs I soldered to the SO-239's outside (using 2 holes) points
for radials.

With a fishing pole I casted up over the back yard tree that stands about 50 ft
tall. I proceeded to pull the curled end with string over the tree. I pulled the
first 20 feet of the antenna (coming from the SO239) vertical with another
string to the chimney of the house. The two radials were pulled out away from
the feed point. The antenna went on top of the tree and down the other side
forming a upside-down "U".

I hooked about 40 feet of RG8X to the feedpoint (also a 4 ft ground rod) coiling
about 20 ft in a 1 ft diameter bunch to form a current choke at the base.

Inside I hooked up the Icom IC765 and the VSWR was 1.1:1 at 1830 without
trimming.

The antenna worked great! With a part-time 100 watt effort I worked 46 states
and 7 DXCC countries. Not bad for a simple 160 meter antenna.

73!
Tim K3LR