Topband: Relocation to mountainous area

[Mark Lunday]

My current QTH in the Piedmont of Central NC, although not ideal for propagation, has some advantages.  I have a 1.4 wave inverted L on 160 plus a HiZ four-square receiving array.  These have served me well.  Although I am not a big-gun, it is quiet here and I have had my share of DX in the past 7 years.  Soil is moist clay, terrain flat.

I am preparing to relocate to the western part of NC.  Mountains (well, hills compared to Western USA).  I understand the importance of propagation and terrain, and I have been following Rich/KY6R and his adventures.  I have also looked at HFTA for more info.

My question is this: the soil will be less conductive at my new QTH.  But what about the near field reflections and pseudo-brewster angle?  Sure, there's nothing I can do about that...just try to put down some radials to minimize near-field loss.  But what can I reasonably expect?  What have others experienced/attempted and achieved success with?  I am looking to save myself some time and frustration by avoiding those approaches which will produce less-than-optimum results.

I am thinking elevated radials for the inverted L, due to poor soil conditions.  Should I run those at two per band if I want to use the inverted L as multi-band?  How should I orient them?  How do I prevent common-mode coming back through the remote coupler?

Will the HiZ array be useful?  What if it's not located on perfectly flat terrain?

Thanks in advance.

Mark Lunday, WD4ELG
Greensboro, NC  FM06be
wd4elg at arrl.net
http://wd4elg.blogspot.com
SKCC #16439  FISTS #17972