Topband: 1/4, 1/2 or 5/8 vertical summery

[Donald Chester]

What if you used a balloon or kite to elevate a LONG vertical wire, fed 
end-fed zepp fashion.  The total height would be one wavelength or 
preferably more, with the top half wavelength a single wire, and the rest, 
balanced open-wire tuned feeder.

With the bottom end of the vertical half-wave higher off the ground, the 
ground loss would be reduced (not totally eliminated).  The old pre-WW2 
zepplin airships used a similar antenna trailing off the end of the craft.  
A modified version has been a popular method for feeding a horizontal 
halfwave, used by amateurs for decades.

I have seen descriptions of the antennas used at WWV, which are vertically 
oriented, halfwave centre-fed dipoles mounted on wooden utility poles.  I 
have never seen any mention of what kind of ground plane, if any, is used 
with those antennas at WWV.  Can anyone enlighten me on this?

Don K4KYV

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