Topband: Elementary Inverted L questions

[Richard (Rick) Karlquist]

On 3/25/2021 11:39 AM, N4ZR wrote:
> Thanks to everyone who has replied so far, and apologies - I did a lousy 
> job of describing the antenna.  First off - I set out to make it 1/4 
> wave (approximately 128 feet) long, and the starting length of wire 
> (what I actually put up) was 140 feet.   Vertical portion is about 55 
> feet, and the horizontal part is more or less level. The feedpoint choke 

Guess about your motives:  I am thinking you want to make the inv-L
long enough to be resonant.  Seems elegant, but actually, this is an
invalid paradigm.  You would be far better off building a top loaded
vertical, even if the top loading wires aren't completely horizontal.
Then use a grounded loading coil at the base with two adjustable taps, 
one for loading and one for tuning.  Very popular; works every time.
(W8JI commented that, with any significant top loading, the current
in the vertical portion is uniform thus bottom loading is as good as
center or top loading).

73
Rick N6RK