[TowerTalk] Improving my dipole

[Art Boyars]

On the CQ-Contest Reflector K7QQ said: "You have to keep in mind that the best antenna doesn't exist. You can only get up what you can and it is never enough."  Well that's where I am, but I'd like advice from you experts on how to improve my antenna, within my personal constraints.

My antenna is a dipole, about 99-ft long, strung between maple trees of the neighbors on either side.  (It's already much higher than the peak of my roof.  No other supports available.)  The feed line is mostly window-pane twin lead, with several feet of coax to get into the house and reach the Transmatch.  Yeah, I know it's not balanced; but should I really care, as long as the RF goes somewhere other than losses?  (And I know that the high SWR might cause the coax to arc over or have noticeable resistive loss, but that's one of the constraints -- for now.)  My main operating interest is SS CW, with a little other casual contesting (work the Club members and the big guns) and a bit of 40M CW DXing (if I can get the antenna to work better).
  
I've pulled the ends of the dipole as far as I can into the trees (maybe too far), but it still sags quite a bit -- 5 to 10 feet, by eye.  Some of the sag is probably from the weight of the antenna wire and the feedline, but I think a lot of it is simply from the dipole's being longer than the span between the trees.

I have two seat-of-the-pants concerns.  First, I may be getting losses from having the ends of the dipole in the foliage.  Second, the vertical-V might be more NVIS-like than Iis good for me.  Obvious solution is to shorten the dipole a bit, but that would make it even shorter than the recommended 100-ft minimum.  So, first question for the experts:  Do you think I'll do better to shorten it, or should I leave the ends in the trees?

Second-order solution and question:  If it turns out that the feed line is weighing down the center, would I be better off to let it sag than to change to something more like TV twin-lead?  (I recall some discussion here about Radio Shack selling a twin-lead with heavier-than-typical conductors.)


Thanks for your help.

73, Art K3KU