[TowerTalk] practical beverage ideas

[RICHARD BOYD]

I've been working on beverage (or Beverage if you prefer) antennas and have some practical suggestions:
  1.. A 500'+ beverage can be done with as little as 3 supports.  I have 250' spans of wire without supports and very little sag. 
  2.. I find that using fence posts makes for a straighter beverage than trees, bushes, etc. because from a distance you can line up your last two fence posts to get the right location for the next one, and can put it where you want it rather than where the convenient tree is, etc. 
  3.. I started by using 4x4 fence posts but realized that 2x2 (pressure treated) would be more economical and do the job -- we're not trying to keep steers in, just hold up a wire.  I bought some bundles of 12  2x2s at Home Depot, didn't cost to much. 
  4.. 2x2s can be pushed into soft earth far enough to do the job.  Or, sharpen up one end, which would help push them in.  Or, with a stepladder climb up high enough to pound them in with a sledgehammer.  You don't have to use a post hole digger to dig them in, though you can, especially if the soil isn't soft enough to pound them in.  Again, they don't have to go as far into the ground as fence posts would to contain livestock. 
  5.. Being able to see the last two posts may determine how far you can go before putting in the next one.  Once the beverage is done you can come back and remove some of the interim posts, to re-use them somewhere else, minimize the number used, and minimize the aesthetic impact, especially if they're in your backyard (or your neighbors!).  (Or going across public-owned park land, etc. like some of mine are.  Once done, to further minimize the visual impact, paint them the appropriate non-obtrusive colors. 
  6.. I'm putting mine up at 10-12', the upper end of the recommended height range, to be above deer, equestrians, tractors, etc.  Some of mine go across open fields on my own property and I do want to be able to mow, till, plant, etc. if possible. 
  7.. I'm using Polygon fiberglass rod, normally used for guys, above the fence posts.  It goes for less than 50 cents a foot I believe.  I had some scrap around that I'm using up.  This enables me to go even higher than the 2x2, as much higher as I need or want to.  I had originally planned on securing the Polygon to the wood post with hose clamps but they cost a dollar or two each I guess.  I found packets of heavy duty staples, U-tacks, at Home Depot.  Cheap.  Two on each post to tack the round fiberglass rod to the pole is secure enough.  Put three or four if you want.  And, when tacking down to the 2x2, you can probably increase the stability of the rod-to-post connection by turning the tack diagonal until the fiberglass stops it, then tacking it in.  This also keeps the staple away from the edges of the 2x2 to avoid splitting the 2x2.  This is not a factor on a 4x4.  Alternative, use regular electric fence insulators, available at farm supply stores (I went to Southern states, bag of 25 for $2.50 I think, with nails).  I would probably be using these except that I have the Polygon and am trying to get my wire up higher.  These would be what I would be using, or will use, on an existing wood fence line. 
  8.. In the pro-antennas for birds department -- as soon as I put up a couple beverages across an open field I noticed birds landing on the wires and posts and immediately beginning to use them as perches to hunt for food from.  I got out the binoculars and they're bluebirds and there are quite a few of them.  It's late December, in Maryland.  I hadn't even seen any bluebirds for a couple or three months, but I haven't been looking, other than casually, either.  It shows if you provide the habitat they like they sometimes (not always) magically appear.  I will now plan on putting bluebird next boxes on the beverage posts at appropriate intervals.  This confirms what I've seen previously with towers and yagis, that birds often prefer them, as habit "structure." 
  9.. This is an excellent time of year to be working on or putting out beverages -- the vegetation is about at its minimum of the year, many of us have a few days or more off from work, and it's the good low band propagation season with another 160 contest or two coming up soon.  Also, with the sunspot minimum approaching, these are good low band years.
Merry Christmas y'all!  73 - Rich, KE3Q