Just to continue to bore the readers of UnchainedPreppers, I have decided to nix the Delta Loop and Sky Wire Full Wave antenna and go with an inverted "L" antenna to get on the air for 160 meters.
While at our clubs President house during the PA QSO Party several weeks ago I asked him what he was using for 160 meters. He pointed to the sky and about 70 feet up was a horizontal 12 gauge wire that led from the top of his barn to a tower and extended down at right angle to the ground.
At the base of the tower, at the end of the vertical run of wire was a 1:1 balun. One end was connected to the 200 foot run of wire and the other end attached to a 8' copper grounding rod driven into the ground.
Attached to the ground rod was four radial wires buried about 6" down that ran off in equal directions, North, East, south, and West.
Then attached to the 1:1 balun was a coax that led to the shack.
He claims to have been able to reach many stations around the world using both CW and phone via this antenna configuration. An added plus was he claimed to be able to use many other frequencies with his manual tuner.
So this is what I am going to do once the leaves have all left the trees:
> I will be using 12 gauge stranded insulated wire from Home Depot.
> Like what I had done with my G5RV antenna. The wire will be hung using 3 strand-5/16" Dacron line, two Harken
blocks and 2, 5-gallon Home depot buckets filled with rocks. There will be either garage door springs or bungee cords
use as shock absorbers between buckets and line. Here is a drawing from
Radio Works.
> I have identified two trees I am going to use running SW to NE about 145' apart.
> Although both trees are at different heights - The NE tree is about 75' high and the SW tree is at 90 ' high, the
ground slants from NE to SW about 20 degrees so when the wire is up it should be about 70' and level to the slopping
ground.
> The vertical part of the wire (antenna) will run down to the ground and attach to a 1:1 balun, ending about 4' above
the ground due to snow. Like my friends, one side of the balun will be affixed to the antenna wire while the other end
will go to a 8' copper grounding rod.
> I am thinking about then attaching a 4x4' piece of chicken wire to the grounding wire and then running off lateral wires
from that. I will have to play with the length of the radials to see what configuration makes the most sense.
Some folks say there should a series of wires that equal a full wave or 530 feet. Others report that take your full run of
wire in the air and subtract from a 160 meter full wave length (530') and put that amount on the ground in
multiple different lengths in many directions. One guy claims have put out seven lengths from 132' to 8' adding up
to the difference between what is in the air and 530'.
So there you go. Comments, questions and suggestions are encouraged.
