Topband: More uses for my Topband Inv-L

[Gary Smith]

Funny how we're creatures of habit... I have 60 130' radials half on 
a salt marsh & half on the boggy wood beside it. I used a spud gun to 
get my 160 inv-l over the tops of trees at the marsh's edge. I have a 
separate inv-l for 80 which is mostly vertical, a 40M vert & a 30M 
vert & a butternut HF9V all attached to the radial plate. So all I 
ever do when I switch bands is go to the proper antenna that is cut 
as close to 1:1 as I can get for the frequency and use that only; 
I've done this now for the last 3 years I've had these antennae.

So today on a lark I thought to switch around & see if anything came 
in better on any other antennas & lo & behold, the 160 Inv-L hears 
phenomenally better on the upper bands and still comes out with a 
decent enough SWR that the Ameritron AL-1500 has no issues. Tomorrow 
I'm going out with the MFJ Antenna analyzer & see what actually is 
SWR at the feedpoint but regardless if the long run of RG6 is warming 
the ground, after 32 years of chasing DX I worked three new ones 
today albeit not on 160 but using the 160 Inv-L with no tuner. 

Whoda thunk it would have been so useful!

Amazing!

Gary
KA1J