Dear all,
The important thing about any LF antenna is to ensure that the wire is
supported by good insulators, nothing kills the Q of a system like a wire
touching a damp tree or similar lossy structure.
I am sure a low wire will work, I have had good QSOs on 160 with my kite
wire lying on the ground after the wind dropped, average height about half a
metre!
Please try it Rik!
73, Dave G3YXM
The long wire straddles a deep gully, but the wire has considerable
sag. The wire is a thinner type of power line wire, as it needs to
survive strong wind conditions. Conventional wooden pole supports are
used, and height above ground is only 4 or 5 metres in places, but
obviously the route is strategically placed to get a good span of the
main gully. I have visited the farm site, but it is difficult to
describe the situation in a brief message. Thus the sagging wire, over
an irregular terrain gully, is fairly difficult to model with software.
But whether or not it is adequately modelled, ZL1WB has done very well
with log book entries and QSL cards.
I think it is worth trying long wires in practice for LF transmitting,
and whether it breaks records for dummy loads or DX will soon be
apparent. Not many amateur sites have room for a very long wire. In
this respect, the ZL1WB long wire has a remote controlled transmitter,
as the "selected site" is a few kilometres from his QTH, at a farm
building with mains power.
Regards,
Bob ZL2CA
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