Vertical Antenna for 160 meters/CQ 160 Contest SSB



Contests are an ideal time to experiment with HF antennas, especially those dedicated to "Top Band" or 160 meters.

In this video, Steve (AD4XT) teams up with another Steve to build and erect a 1/4 wave vertical with elevated radials for the 2022 "CQ 160 Contest."  Although this antenna took some time and effort to build, erect, and use, the results were worth it.

If you can't see the video, please insert this title URL into your browser search box:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX5TCP4SeSE

Here are some comments from Steve (AD4XT):

Team Steve & Steve give an overview two vertical antennas that we use for the CQ 160 ssb Contest. We switched to a vertical design in order to pick up more DX stations. A dipole for 160M is nearly impossible to get high enough for DX. These two really worked well this year for us. Design and measurements below. Steve Ad4xt 1/4 wave elevated vertical: Base was 10' high vertical element 130' 14ga. copper strand insulated wire 5 elevated radials 17 ga. aluminum fence wire at 10' 130' long vertical element goes up 55' then inverted L to a tall tree. EFHW 160M / 80M custom built transformer for 160 / 80 3 core 290 x type 43 mix. 3 turns on the primary wire goes up 60' then inverted L to 85' pine. Both worked very well.


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Thanks for joining us today.

Aloha es 73 de Russ (KH6JRM).

 

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