I suppose I'm 'Mr. Bad Example' of how to not think too much about my 160m inverted L. Verily I have spent way more time trying to figure out how I was going to get the wire as high as I could, and the horizontal portion as short as possible (HINT: at my age, climbing gaffs bad, crossbow good). The result is about 85' up to a tree limb (6-8' from the tree trunk), then out horizontally to the east for the rest. For ground radials, each season I lay out six quarter wavelengths (roughly) of old computer CAT cable with all the wires soldered together on both ends. I literally pull them out across the pasture (once the cows are gone for the winter), and loosely tie them to fiberglass stakes at the ends to keep them somewhat straight. With the height of the grass, they are what I would guess to be 6-8 inches 'suspended' over the dirt.
We have a LOT of deer; each hunting season this place becomes a refuge for them. Rarely do I have a deer trip over a ground radial enough for me to have to do anything about it. I'll go so far as saying they get to know they are there, and walk around, or jump over them. The only recurring deer trouble I had was when I had my beverages at 6'. Raising them to 7-8' solved that completely. Not a single deer issue for the past two 160m seasons. The inverted L works wonderfully as my xmit antenna, and is very tolerable on rx, using a noise antenna and mfj-1025. Six radials laying on the ground works for me. And no, they do not come together in a perfect ring surrounding the feedpoint. I use a giant split nut about 8 inches away from the vertical wire to which they are all attached and placed under a tupperware container. The whole thing is happy with 1kw, although I most typically run 100-200 watts. I'm sure I have horrible interactions between my L's, the beverages, and maybe even the 5-circle a bit. But it is still fun, and I adore 160m, and BCB dx'ing. Even during the peak, such as it is. I do enjoy reading the threads here, but rarely chime in. Thanks to all who are diving deep on these topics. Heck of a knowledge base here. Many tnx to VE6WZ, et al. for your contributions that stoke the magic fire of this band. And many tnx to all for the Rudy Severns info. I remembered coming across that several years back, but lost in the bookmarks. ~ tu de N8UX _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector