[TowerTalk] Inverted L Tuning Question

[K2EK at aol.com]

Rick
 
My inv-L is 60' vertical plus 75' +/- sloping down and away from the tower 
(70' topped with an X7).  There is 6' separation between the tower and vertical 
wire. I also use the tower as a folded monopole on 80.  Consequently it is 
tied to the radials (100 x 65').
 
I found I needed to use a series cap between the coax and vertical wire. I 
think I wound up with 2 or 300pf. You could try a 2 section BC variable to get 
an idea.  In my case, the horizontal wire started out at almost 85'.  I had to 
go back and forth between trimming that and tuning the cap.  Eventually I had 
a very nice match at 1835.  If this works for you, you can then improvise a HV 
cap by using 12" pieces of scrap RG8.  Each piece will contribute about 28 - 
30pf (make sure you maintain 1/2" or so separation between braids and center 
conductors).
 
I used an MFJ269 at the base for tuning.  It was oblivious to a 10Kw BC 
station 5 or 6 miles north of me.
 
73 and GL
Bill
K2EK
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