Topband: Inv L in Tree

Thu Oct 4 09:48:27 EDT 2018

Its mostly about doing what you can with what you have with local conditions that exist.
WD-1A is very strong , difficult to see, and the loss is not all that bad, so it can be a good choice  sometimes.

In the early days of this reflector there was mid-western DXer that moved to a neighborhood with rows of close houses.  Well after dark  he ran a BOG antenna
often down the lawns of his neighbors, then picked it up before anyone awoke for the day.  Had a few close calls but , got a lot of DX.

There was a tale of a DXer in a skyscraper of New York city that used the apartment copper plumbing  for his ground and a wire down the plastic sewer line for his antenna.

In NYC,   I  sold a BOG transformer to a resident that ran the "on ground wire"  down an alley between tall buildings. I have no idea how he achieved a ground, but he said he worked  DX, but did give specifics.

As they used to say "hang in there and have fun" ! 

73
Bruce-k1fz

 On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 21:56:20 +1000, vk3io  wrote:

Hi Brian and others.

Brian should have added with his comment, that he has made numerous 
qso's to VK (that is with me and other VK's) with his "poor antenna" on 
top band overs the past years and when and if he can move the wire away 
from the tree trunk, then he will no doubt make many more qso's.

What a difference one S point can make or even a half an S point, when 
you move the wire away from the tree, by 2 or 3 feet, if possible.

When I consider the number of dx qso's I "almost made" over the past 30 
years or so, on Top Band and what I could have worked, if only for one S 
point, on TX and or RX.

If only I had the drive or time to make such a small improvement to my 
antenna system.

Cheers from Ron, vk3io.

On 04-Oct-18 9:22 PM, Brian Campbell wrote:
> Ed, Gary and All,
>
> Seeing as I have had my Inverted L ( 85' / 27M  vertical ) against my tree's trunk ( actually touching it - oops ) since I installed it, and as I  also have tress in the elbow, I may have to try and move it out some after reading all the suggested articles. The only reason it is like it is, is for convenience, as I have no towers ( or trees in the right location ) to hang it off of atm so it was either that or no Inverted L.
>
> All I can and will say is that just "anecdotally" speaking and nothing else, it will still work, not as good as one that is stood off a few feet I am sure but better than nothing if it gets you on the air. Or to put it another way, a poor antenna is much better than no antenna at all.
>
> Good Luck and remember YMMV
>
> 73,
> Brian
> VE3MGY
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Topband  on behalf of Gary Smith 
> Sent: October 3, 2018 9:27 PM
> To: Topband at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: Topband: Inv L in Tree
>
> Ed,
>
> FWIW, I'm using what used to be an INV-L.
> I laid out a radial bed as well as
> possible, next to a marsh. I am in a
> hurricane area and with the winds, the
> trees have fallen over. I originally shot
> a line over a tall branch with a spud gun
> I made (see it on my QRZ page, at the
> bottom), at that time it was an "L".
>
> The branch came down and I used another
> branch, albeit farther away. With
> attrition, I am now using a tree maybe 30'
> away from straight up. Doing it the way I
> did allows me to have a radial bed away
> from the trunk of a tree. I can't move the
> bed so the type of antenna had to change.
> I am using WD-1A field telephone wire for
> my antennas, with its SS solid core it is
> incredibly strong and it is so thin it is
> very hard to see.
>
> It's not nearly as good of an antenna as
> many here use but it is quite good, even
> as a sloper. I was able to work 9X0T on
> 160 tonight and could barely hear him with
> the QRN & RFI but he heard me. Point being
> that a sloper works very well on 160, you
> don't "have to have" an INV-L.
>
> Whatever you go with, I wouldn't run the
> antenna next to the trunk. I would keep it
> some distance to the trunk and as long as
> you have enough length for radials &
> antenna & I'd use some method of getting a
> stealthy wire like WD-1A up over & into
> the tree-top and down to the radial plate.
>
> 73,
>
> Gary
> KA1J
>
>> Has anybody snaked a wire up a tall tree trunk to make an Inv L?
>>
>> Any interaction?  Success??  Has to be stealthy because the tree os
>> my neighbor's :-)
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Ed NI6S
>> _________________
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>>
>
>
>
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