Gord's Inverted L Antenna

In 2004 at the low point of the sun spot cycle I became interested in 160 metres and after a little research decided to erect a 160 metre Inverted L antenna. The antenna itself was made up of a 45 ft vertical and an 85 ft horizontal wire that was supported by an arm at the 45 ft level of my existing tower. The vertical wire was parallel to the tower and spaced away about 16 inches. The ground for the antenna that I used is a hydro ground (two ten foot ground rods ten feet apart) that was installed when the cottage was built. A third ground rod was at the base of the tower and connected to the hydro ground with #8 wire.

Initially the antenna was designed for 160 meters only and to tune the antenna and feed it with a 50 ohm line a simple Pi section coupler was constructed using a coil and capacitor. The final version was designed to work on 160, 80 and 20 meters.In Figure #1 you can see the final version of the tuning arrangement which was mounted at the base of the tower in a weather proof box and has separate Pi couplers on 160 80 and 20 metres.

FIGURE # 1

Future plans are to install at least several ground radials and to possibly also errect a low noise receiving antenna