Topband: Tee Verticals

[Bill Gaines AD8P]

For several years now I have used a 65' tall "Tee" vertical on 160. It is an open wire fed 80 meter dipole with the feed point shorted and fed together. This is fed against  6 or 7 elevated 1/4 wave radials. All of this is fed through a homebrew Doug DeMaw "Ultimate Transmatch". I am very satisfied with my signal on both bands as I am able to work anything I can hear. However, I am willing to modify this system but want to see if anyone has already done it before me.

What if I short the top hat at the 65' point and at attach just one side of the open wire feeder. At this same point I will disconnect the other half of the feed line thus creating an approximately 65' vertical radiator (closely resonate to 80 meters. At the point of attachment of the elevated radials I can add 6 or 7 additional elevated radials for 80 meters. Keep in mind I will now have an 80 meter vertical about an inch away from my 160 vertical.

Do you think that by changing the current configuration I will lose performance on either band, will it stay the same, or will it get better?

Thanks for your input
Bill AD8P