So I have always been a Higher Band Guy, but I am starting to really like the low bands and DXing. So With the 102 foot dipole I have up works well, but Height is not great for low band DX.

So I am thinking an Inverted L antenna.

This is what I am thinking, coming off the house with 12awg thnn, into the top of the pine tree. Approximate height is 120 feet. Then going horizontal to the other pine terr that is about 120 feet away, and almost the same height.

SGC tuner at the base. Hooked to my grounding system, maybe some radials in the winter. (when the grass dies)







Wish I could make it to the end of the yard but the damn power line.

I also contemplated a 500 foot loop. but the trees on the other side of the yard are short, making the height about 30 foot.

Any further suggestions?

So now for MS paint!

The First 2 pictures the inverted L is in RED, the current dipole is in blue.

Last picture the L is in blue, had a brain fart








You can actually see my Dipole int he tree in the one picture.

I would actually be running it to a tree behind the one behind the right hand tree this would net me 240 feet long give or take. Should work for 80 also on the SGC

If you have that much vertical height, the "L" part of inverted L really would do nothing good for you. Just put up the vertical element. If you want it to work on 40 limit the vertical height to 80 feet, that would be a 5/8 wave for 40 meters. For 80 & 160, 125 feet or so would be pretty close to 1/2 wave / 1/4 wave, which may be good or bad - the end impedance of a 1/2 wave is very high so hard to tune. I have seen an antenna feedpoint matching system for a dual band 20/40 vertical, which properly tunes each band to the respective 1/2 wave or 1/4 wave impedances, so that presumably could be scaled to 160 & 80.

If you're going to use a remote tuner anyway, something to consider would be a length of 105 feet. That would get you away from the 1/2 wave end impedance on 80, and would be a 5/8 wave for 60 meters. With the europeans getting 60m allocations, that would kick butt at transatlantic contacts.

Using the N6LF ground radial dimensions I would probably put out 8 radials for 80m and 4 or 8 for 160. And 4 for 60 if you do the 105' height.

That is the only problem I cannot get radials out since the tree is on the edge of the property line.

I have been trying to model it, and it seems vertical has a better pattern and lower take off on the lower bands. Just modeled on earth ground. And a higher takeoff on 40m vs vs dipole.

So I think I can do this, it will be a compromise but may work. But I was expecting a compromise on 160 anyways.

80 meter plot



160 meter plot

So I got the antenna up in the air. Ended up cutting the wire at 123' Using my bow I shot an arrow over the top of the tree with fishing line on my large spinning reel. It worked like a charm. Ended up running it through a ceramic insulator off the side of the house down to my SGC tuner near my entrance panel. I hooked a 4 foot wire to the ground system and ran 2 radials out at and angle. I ran out of my scrap wire for radials and decided to go ahead and test it.


Worked a station in Spain of 40m  with a report of 15db over S9, but he did have a 3el single band yagi.

Worked my first SSB DX on 80m into Serbia 55 signal report. Some of the big station that called him were using beams and having a hard time with a copy due to the static crash.
Also heard some stations on 160m, a bunch, for the first time ever. Had to shut down due to storms. Band consitions are terrible with QRN.

Now I want to make a Balance line remote antenna switch after the tuner with some relays. This way I can keep the tuner in line and switch antennas.
Many of the Net Control stations that are booming in are the dipole are a bit weaker on the vertical, but still strong. I can also pick up many more stations on the waterfall then with the other antenna, most of those are much further distance.

As said above, you need a decent radial system for good 160 M work.  When the radiator wire length starts gettin much below about 3/8 wavelength, then a low impedance counterpoise becomes very important for efficiency's sake.  

You're leaving several dB in the ground with only a pair of radials, keeping those Silkies warm at night.

Congrats on getting the wire up, and welcome to 160


I'll join you once I get the dang squirrel damage repaired on my Inverted-L.

No doubts there, Spousal unit said no tearing up the lawn for radials until the fall. Have more wire to run. So far it seems promising, enough that I will get some more radials down. Still should have a lower take off then my Low G5RV. Also notice on the model the more radials the lower the feed point voltage is. Now I am kind of cheating with the SGC tuner at the base of the wire, but more radials is needed for sure. Elevated radials are out of the question, so im just going to have to bury more of them.

Don't worry about burying them, just buy/make some "landscape" staples & peg them to the ground.  If your grass grows half decent, they will get over grown before the year is out.

I found the 24" insulation supports  from Lowe's can be used to make decent landscape staples.  Cut  in half with bolt cutters (or do the whole bundle, taped up, with a thin angle grinder cut off disc) then form into 6" staples with some electrician pliers.   Works out to about $.08 per staple.

FWIW I had been doing 160m with a FWL, but recently added a 160m "L" off the top of the 6BTV (after removing the 80m resonator & adding a 40m trap).  The radial field is unchanged (32 near field & 10 longer) but it has worked out OK.  The FWL still has the edge for closer contacts (500 miles?), but the "L" seems to have it for the longer contacts.


Nick