Topband: Beverage thru the forest

[Mike & Coreen Smith]

Dwight,

I used to live next to a cedar swamp which was pretty thick in spots.  I ran 
a beverage of aprox 1200' length, up, down, over trees, through bushes, etc. 
etc. up at an avg.of 10'-12' off the ground (so it wouldn't strangle anyone 
walking, hiking, snowmobiling, etc.) and it ended up in a marsh next to a 
lake. It worked quite well.  I just had it NE-SW (*unterminated) so 
basically bidirectional.

While I wouldn't go so far as to say it "rocked", it "worked" and was 
definately worth the Autumn afternoons effort of installing it. (much easier 
to do with no leaves, and the trees and ground wet so the wire slips onto 
the branches here and there (see below)

Make sure it's up a MINIMUM of 10'-15' so deer, moose, people,snowmobilers 
on top of 3' of snowpack, don't hook themselves on it.

Easiest way 'I' found was to walk through the woods with my big spool(s) on 
the nearest place that I could call almost call a "path"; putting the wire 
on branches here and there, leaving lots of slack.....When you get to the 
end, don't tie it.    Then walk it AGAIN with a long pole with a sort of 
double hook on the end and push the wire up over all the tall branches you 
can find.  Once you're done, you can tighten it up some here and there (but 
not too tight as trees moves in the wind). YMMV

The purist will say it was no good, but it did work.,,,,,as bent, twisted 
and up down ziggy/zag that it was.  It lasted many years with only a few 
repairs.  #12AWG, stranded, R90 insulated wire, colour was brown.

MIke VE9AA

Mike, Coreen & Corey Smith
699 Rte 616 Keswick Ridge
NB
Canada
E6L 1T1
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: DGB
  To: TopBand List
  Sent: Monday, October 26, 2009 7:27 PM
  Subject: Topband: Beverage thru the forest


  I live in a heavy hardwood forest and need to know if running a beverage
  thru the maze would be effective on 160.

  My lot is only 1-1/2 acres measuring 200' E&W on the south side, 420 N&S
  on the East side, and 262' N&S on the west side. The north side is a
  246' diagonal from the two north ends of the east and west legs.

  My house and garage is in the middle of this lot with a 60 deep ravine
  behind them.

  That means however I run the beverage, trying to get it in the NE
  direction, my feed line would be almost 200' long to get to the far SW
  end of it.

  Besides that, the land is hilly, so the average elevation of it, not the
  height above ground, could vary as much as 60 ft. The ground is
  basically sand (NE Wisconsin).

  On the south and west sides of the lot is 8200 acres of thick County
  Forest, same varying terrain.

  Would it work? In the past I have been using a 160m dipole and in the
  winter I put up a Tee with a few radials for xmtg, which I will do again
  the winter.

  I've worked every thing I've heard (with legal power limit) but I know
  there is a lot I'm not hearing.

  Any suggestions? ... short of moving ...  which I hope to be doing by
  spring!

  Would I be better off with a Flag or Pennant?

  Please ... thanks 73 Dwight NS9I


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