Topband: Long, Unelevated Wire Antennas

[kd6nrp at earthlink.net]

Good Morning:

Back in the mid-1980s I discovered that long (1000, 1200, 2000, and 5000 foot), end-fed, insulated wires on the desert surface were superb receive antennas for VLF through at least 4 MHz.

I once placed an Y-shaped array of 1200 foot wires on the ground and connected them to a switch box that allowed me to select one wire as a receive antenna and the others as counterpoise wires. It was awesome for AM broadcast band use (good gain and very directional).

I wonder I deployed a doublet with two 1200 foot wires or a Y-array of 1200 foot wires on the desert floor, and connected it to my transciever through an antenna tuner, if it would work well on 160-meters.

And yes, I actually did deploy a 5000 foot wire. It worked well for receive.

73

Brian, KD6NRP