[TowerTalk] Beverages

[K7GCO@aol.com]

In a message dated 11.06.00 09:24:57 Pacific Daylight Time, 
alwilliams@olywa.net writes:

<< 
 I have room to put up a 500' beverage but it would be over wetland, 100'
 pond, and much mucky peat bed.  Would it be a wasted effort?
 
 k7puc
  >>
Try it on all frequencies and transmit and receive.  I laid an insulated wire 
on a frozen lake and it worked great.  I floated it in the spring also.  It 
was quiet.  I'm going to lay an insulated wire in the bottom of a small river 
bed in SD.  The ground conductivity is the highest in the US there and it may 
detract from it's performance but that remains to be seen even with preamps.  
Talk about a stealth antenna!  50 years ago I ran a wire to the railroad 
tracts and metal elevators that were 300' away for a great termination.  Try 
different heights and try grounding it on the end with a good of set radials 
for the ground.  Make it multiples of 140' and it will be a Lo-Z feed on all 
bands without the "end affect reduction or change" of resonant length on the 
harmonics.  1/2 wave multiples of wire and transmission line repeat the 
resistance it's terminated in at the other end.  Adjust for resonance low in 
the band and use with a 3 gang BC variable Xc to tune up the band.  By 
adjusting the wire length and series Xc value different and or desired R 
values can be obtained for easier feed   The voltage is low so close spacing 
works and Hi-C is needed on the lowest frequency and progressively less 
higher in the band.  If any arcing occurs with high power, used fixed Xc's 
and a wider spaced lower Xc variable.  

Chip described something similar at a SeaSide, Or Hamvention where a sloping 
160M wire about 260' long was terminated in salt water with a weight and 
matched to a coax with a tuner at the support.  It heard many layers down 
like 
Chip has never heard before. In absence of salt water as described above use 
a ground system of rods and radials to terminate at the end instead of a 
terminating resistor.  Since salt water surface area conducts fairly well and 
is not a zero ohms RF ground, who is to say that it actually transfers 
signals to the terminated end running in the water to the weight holding it 
at the bottom and reflecting to the wire above the wire.  Grounding LW's and 
Beverages at the end gives great results at times.  Who is to say that a 
radial system at the end enhances signal pick up and transfers it to the wire 
or creates favorable directivity and gain?  Try it.  I wish I could compare a 
salt water to a ground radial termination side by side. Obtain dug up oil 
tanks that leak, paint it with Derusto and braze a connection terminal on it 
and bury it as a ground at the shack or end of a Beverage.  The surface area 
is very large compared to a ground rod which is less than 1 sq ft.  Sink one 
of these tanks out in the salt water, a lake or a stream and run the wire at 
right angles or parallel for a weight and ground connection at difference 
distances for comparisons.  Try something new for a change--Innovation is the 
name of the Antenna Game for the Competitive.  K7GCO

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