[TowerTalk] 160m antenna ideas / suggestions

[Wes Stewart]

I'm sorry to have confused you.  When I most recently* ventured onto top band I 
added some extensions to my existing 40/80 inverted vee to resonate it on 160.  
Despite what some here believe, I'm no dummy and know that a vertical (or mostly 
vertical) is preferred.  Hence, I have constructed one.  I don't consider it 
quite finished because it needs more radials. As a matter of fact, I stopped at 
the electrical supply place today and bought another 1,000' of insulated 14 AWG 
so I can add some more; hopefully before the weekend.

My original point was that some "experts" have this knee jerk (heavy on the 
jerk) reaction when you say you are using a horizontal antenna on 160.  I'm much 
too old to suffer these fools gladly and say so.

I neither contend that I have nor intend to have a world-class station on 160.  
I've never had one on any other band so why start now?  I'm goal orientated, 100 
countries will complete my 9-Band DXCC and I will be satisfied.

* My first top band QSO was also my first top band DX.  In 1959, my HF RX 
(BC342) died.  But I had a DX-100 that covered 160.  So I took an old car radio, 
which in those days used permeability tuning, and adjusted the slugs so it would 
tune 1.8 MHz.  The i-f in those was 262 kHz and needing a BFO I built a 250 kHz 
oscillator with a crystal I had on hand. Close enough. I adjusted the injection 
level by moving the two chassis relative to each other.  The antenna was a wire 
plugged into the transmitter which ran through the casement window up to near 
the top of a Eucalyptus tree in my parent's back yard.  I heard and worked a 
VE7. Unfortunately, the log and QSL if I got one, are long gone.

Wes  N7WS

On 1/25/2018 7:19 PM, john at kk9a.com wrote:
> I am confused, your QRZ biography indicates that you are using an inverted L
> on top band.  Certainly you must have realized that generally a vertical is
> a better 160m antenna than a 45' high Inverted V.  I have tried ~40' high
> inverted V's and they work terribly, even in the Caribbean.
>
> John KK9A
>
>
> from [Wes Stewart]
> To:	towertalk at contesting.com
> Date:	Wed, 24 Jan 2018 21:35:24 -0700
>
> I'm a relative newcomer on top band.  I have only 86 entities worked.
> Apparently, I failed to get the message since sixty-seven of them were
> worked with an inverted-vee dipole with apex at 45' and the ends barely
> above head high.  This was both the TX and RX antenna and TX power never
> exceeded 500 W.
>
> N7WS
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>