Topband: Antenna for 160?

[steve d]

I just had an idea that I figured I would run by the group and see what everyone thinks.
  
  I don't have any supports here for wire antennas, other than the house  (no trees, no flag pole, no tower). Ive been trying to get on 160 for  some time now. I used one of my wires (1/4w 80m, gutter counterpoise)  to get 2 contacts last night on 160, so I know I can do it. However,  the tuning of the antenna I used is an issue in itself, so I won't get  in to that.
  
  The other antenna I have is a 40m dipole in the attic. Its fed with  coax right now. However, I have the ability to feed it with ladder  line. If I do that I can add some length to the antenna and make a  doublette. After all, if I go with ladder line I need to feed it  through my tuner/balun anyway. 
  
  How about this though: short the ladder line at the tuner and feed it as a T against ground on 160?
  
  There are a couple issues with this. First, my shack is on the second  floor. The ground line would have to be pretty long. For use as part of  the antenna, Im not sure this would matter much (ground for the rigs is  another issue). The other one is the ladder line would have to run  parallel to one leg of the antenna with several feet of spacing as the  shack is on one end of the house. However, I think it might work better  than anything I have, regardless of the issues. 
  
  If I do try it, do I run the shorted ladder line off the longwire port?  Or should I use one of the unballanced SO-239's? If I go through the  longwire port I go through the 4:1 balun. That will chop my impedance 4  times, depending on what the impedance is of the antenna that could  make it harder to tune than if I wen't straight in to the tuning  network. I have no idea what the impedance would be, though.
  
  What does everyone here think? 
  
  Steve, KC8QVO
  
  
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