[TowerTalk] TowerTalk Digest, Vol 84, Issue 5

[Art]

Blair, depends on what you'd like to do with it. A horizontal 160 ant that low will warm the clouds with its very high radiation angle. Any component you can get vertical will probably be a huge benefit if you want good success across the pond. If local short range is your goal might not make all that much difference.

73 Art

Blair wrote:

Message: 6
Date: Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:10:41 -0500
From: Blair S Balden <blair.balden at wmich.edu>
Subject: [TowerTalk] dipole configuration
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Message-ID: <fed6ca30a414.4b18c401 at wmich.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hello towertalk group,

I'm getting set to put up a wire dipole for 160 meters.  I'm considering 2 options, and I wanted to hear which one you guys think might be better.  The feed point will be about 38 feet up on the side of a tower near the house.  From there, I have just enough room to stretch out a full quarter wave to the back edge of my property, where I can get about 25 - 30 feet of height in a tree at the other end.  So this leg of the dipole will be pretty much horizontal. 

For the other leg, I don't have that much room.  I will need to put in a loading coil.  I have about 60 feet to a tree in the front yard, where I can get about 25 feet of height.  This is what I was planning, but I also thought about bringing that leg straight down from the feed point.  In that case, the antenna would have one full-length horizontal leg and one short (about 30 foot) vertical leg with a loading coil.
 
Do you think anything would be gained by having part of the antenna vertical?  Would I get some lower-angle radiation if I did it that way?  Or would it work better more or less horizontal?

Thanks in advance for any input.

73,
Blair NP2F