DX season on 160 Meters (Amateur Band)

[K5TEN]

The antenna I am in the process of getting ready to put up for 160m is an inverted L.

I asked around and asked around, and have spent HOURS on the ARRL members only section going back through articles on low band antennas (as well as ON4UN's book "Low Band DXing" which is THE BIBLE for anyone who wants to work DX on 160-40M) and if you cant get a full 1/2 wave dipole up about 100' for 160m, it will end up being a cloud warmer--but you will still work some DX.

If you can't get a 1/4 wave vertical up--do the next best thing. Inverted L has some vertical component to it, a low horizonal dipole doesn't. If you can get the first vertical part as high as you can up vertical in a tree (say 55' to 75'), then the rest of the 125' total length left over just flat top it out as high as you can (like a dipole). That's HALF of your antenna.

The OTHER HALF is your radial system. You can ground the other side to a ground rod with a copper plate to it and run a 125' ground radial all snaked around the property to fit, and I gurantee you WILL work some DX on 160. The purists will probably have at me with both barrels, but it's true.

If you REALLY want to work DX, put down a minimim of 50 wire radials as long as you can, and tie it into any metal thing you can. The water pipes, your chain link fence, the 150 gallon cut in half steel watering barrell that your cattle drink out of, your lawn sprinkling system, and any metal object sticking into the ground. If you can put down 100---DO IT. Make some 25', some 50', some 200' if you can pull it off, and you will have one MONSTER DX antenna for 160.