From NG9R
3/19/2008 7:12:53 PM (1 comments) 
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I an somewhat antenna limited at home. Actually, I am not supposed to have any antennas up, but my landlord looks the other way with my attempts at skyhooks, or at least he has so far.
Most of my HF antennas are wire, hung across trees and do not generally live very long. In an moment of what must have been temporary insanity, I purchased a commercial antenna, an Aplha Delta DX-B. The DX-B is made to operate as a 1/4 wave sloper on 30/40/80 and 160 meter and is suppose to be operated with a tower as the other half of the antenna. Since I didn't have a tower, I never did put the antenna up as it was designed. I did wind up using it as a ground plane, fed at ground level with a simple 4' ground rod for my ground pane. It is actually in an inverted L configuration, with the vertical part being 33 feet up and the horizontal part (80 & 160) running somewhat horizontal. I managed to work several QSO's with VP6DX on 30, 40, 80 and 160, both phone and CW with that simple antenna and no radials. I worked a handful of new states on 160 during the CQWW 160 SSB contest, but the results were inconclusive. I did finally add several radials of varying lengths. Not a band opener, but much better than anything else I have had up on those bands in the past few years.
Even my 450 ohm ladder line fed 80 meter dipole was capable of decent DX on 80 and was really a decent antenna on 40, plus it surprised me a couple of times on the higher frequency bands, but it was a real dog on 160.
I have used a full sized G5RV, a shorty G5RV and a Gap Titan DX vertical, but the 80 meter dipole with the 450 ohm feedline beat them all until I put up this vertical ground plane, at least on the low bands. The DX-B isn't designed for operation above 30 meters, so I really can't compare it to anything else. Currently I use a G5RV at 25 feet for everything above 30 meters and either the G5RV or the vertical below 30 meters.
Even a poor low-life renter like me can work DX on the low bands without putting out much cash or much effort, at least as far as the antenna system goes. I am not implying this antenna id going to do a perfect job in all conditions and on all paths, but it does work quite well on the longer haul stuff on 80 and 160. My low G5RV does much better on short skip contacts on 40 and 80 (under 500 miles).
What are your favorite low band wire antennas?
