[Towertalk] Can my 40' tower be a 160m vertical?

[Jim Leahy]

Hello all. I've always been under the impression that one had to have a 100'
or taller tower in order to shunt feed it for 160m. Therefore, for years
I've been fooling with long wires, random wires, low (25') windoms, slopers
etc. without a lot of luck. Plus I'm only running 100w.  But I happened
across a recent thread where WL7M is using his 40' Rohn on 160/80m. Now I'm
wondering if I can do this with my 40' freestanding tower and get better
results with DX. Here's what I have: 40' freestanding tower, Mosley TA-33
w/40m kit, 3 phillystran guy wires, each leg to a grounding rod and about 8
random length radials buried from the tower base in conjuction with a W9INN
all-band wire sloper. Is this a viable setup for using the tower on160m
operation? If so, are there any good books/instructions on exactly how to do
this? I'm also contemplating a Butternut HF2V 80/40 with the 160m kit which
would end up being about 31' in length. Winter will be approaching fast and
I want to get something different going on Top Band. Plus the fact that I've
been inactive for about 3 years, I'm getting itchy! I've worked about 25-30
countries with the various wire setups and 100w over the years. Looking to
try something different. I'm currently using a Cushcraft AP8 vertical for
80/40/WARC operation. That antenna, while serving me well when we lived in
an apartment years ago, is really lacking when it comes to 80 meter
operation. That is one of the reasons I'm thinking about the Butternut.
Bottom line, I REALLY need to improve my 80/160m situation. Thanks for any
help!
Jim K2JL