Topband: 160m antenna help

[Mike Waters]

Hello Paul,

How about trying Guy Olinger's elevated FCP (folded counterpoise) and
compare that to your radials on the earth? If you're not familiar with it,
then just search the Topband archives for *FCP*.

Somewhere in those archives, K3LR mentioned lengthening the inverted-L. So
that's what I did. Doing so significantly raises the low feedpoint
impedance that a λ/4 inverted-L has (about 17 ohms), and also elevates the
point of maximum current. I played with the length in EZNEC and settled on
155' total length.

My inverted-L is described at
www.w0btu.com/160_meters.html. Lots of other useful information there that
you might find useful, also.

It has been long established there is little difference in DX performance
between the inverted-L and the T-antenna. The small amount of
horizontally-polarized radiation from the horizontal (or sloped) part can
be very useful. Take some to search the Topband archives, and you'll see
why we say that. :-)

73, Mike
www.w0btu.com

On Fri, Sep 21, 2018, 3:07 PM Paul Mclaren <paul.mcl at gmail.com> wrote:

> Looking for the advice of the experienced hams for what if anything I
> should do to make my 160m inverted L more efficient.   Being realistic I am
> limited as I have a postage stamp garden so can't really lay more radials
> or change much beyond the inverted L.  I guess the question is would some
> sort of match at the base help?
>
> Antenna is inverted L with 18m vertical section
>
> Radials are approx 40 x 10m lengths and a layer of copper mesh out to about
> 5 metres from the base as well.
>