Hello Kevin and LFers,

> A few years ago, Robert, VK7ZAL made regular expeditions to a remote site near
> Hobart in Tasmania and listened for our ZL gang who were transmitting on 181.4
> kHz. He ran out a couple of hundred metres or so of insulated wire, over the
> ground and bushes, pointed towards ZL, and connected to an antenna tuner that
> fed his receiver. I should also add that the far end was unterminated.
> Allowing for the wavelength, this short "Beverage" worked very well.
> I have copies of recordings made by Robert and was surprised by the very good
> reception at his end [audible CW].
> 


Thanks for the information about these ground mounted antennas. I've 
always thought of trying one so perhaps now is the time.


> At John's "remote" site I believe that a 200m BOG would be well worth a try on
> 500kHz.
> 

I believe Finbar uses 120m and  100m versions. Fed via transformers, but 
unterminated at the distant ends. A good tuneable pre-amp seems 
necessary - I built one this week, but intend a Mark 2 version soon.


I am surronded by fields - with sheep in them - so laying out a wire 
100-200m long shouldn't be a problem - although preventing sheep 
predation might be. They quickly ate through a radial wire from my 
500kHz TX antenna that I'd run along "their side" of a stone wall!

I'll try to lay out some wire over the weekend and report my findings. 


This 500kHz access is leading my along several new paths all at once and 
it's hard to keep up!

Cheers,

John