[TowerTalk] Railroad Rails

[WarrenWolff@aol.com]

Greetings fellow TT’ers,
 
Many years ago, I was stationed at Hickam AFB on  Oahu,
Hawaii.
 
I was desperate to join in DX game using my new GSB-100
+  Johnson T-Bolt.
 
Unfortunately, there was no way to get one of those  new-
fangled tri-banders up on any kind of tall support.  The  back
yard was very small and basically non-accessible.  Finally,
I  found a little telephone pole which was light enough to
be carried by six  people.  Yep; it was tiny.
 
The back yard was only about 20 feet wide and many  feet
long shared by many other 10-plex dwellers.  It took days  to
hand dig a 4 foot hole in the coral.  After we got the  pole
erected, we figured the top mounted HY-Gain cleared the
north-south  running clothesline by only 15 feet (1/4 wave
on 20m).  But this was the  best we could do.
 
I have never had an antenna work so well in the  north-south
direction.  That super long clothes line must have been  just
the right distance below.  I worked many Europeans with
that set  up.
 
Aren't those clotheslines similar to the railroad rails?   There
was NO connection to the lines.
 

Warren; W5KKW