ok tom, with the antenna i described you will need about 750 pico 
farads of series capacity.  that can be part fixed and part 
variable.  and you can get fancfy and add a motor a small d.c. 12 
volt job and you need to insulate the motor from the capacitor 
shaft.  then you can qsy and just retune the antenna for the new 
freq.  i do exactly that here and it works great.  take care, c u 73 mike



At 06:23 PM 11/12/2011, you wrote:
>     Well, it will be interesting to see if I can get this sloper working at
>all.
>
>We did some work on it today, and it is starting to look better, but it
>still needs to be tweaked quite a bit.
>
>I also am finding that it will be very narrow.  That's not a surprise for
>me, but I'll have to think about where on the band I'll want to operate to
>get the most use out of it once I get it tuned.
>
>73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Lloyd Rasmussen" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2011 9:19 PM
>Subject: Re: Need help in making sense out of contradictory SWR readings
>
>
> >I don't think that 160 will be nearly as good this winter as in previous
> > winters, with the increased solar activity.  Having said that, I worked
> > Poland on 75-meter SSB with 100 watts last night, so the low bands are not
> > a
> > completely lost cause.
> >
> > Lloyd Rasmussen, Kensington, Maryland
> > Home:  http://lras.home.sprynet.com
> > Work:  http://www.loc.gov/nls
> >
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: For blind ham radio operators
> >> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> >> On Behalf Of Tom Behler
> >> Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2011 9:12 PM
> >> To: [log in to unmask]
> >> Subject: Re: Need help in making sense out of contradictory SWR readings
> >>
> >>     Wow, Pat, that sounds like a really neat antenna.
> >>
> >> I'm going to get on 160 again yet this Fall or Winter one way or the
> >> other.
> >>
> >> I just wish I had more property, but an inverted L.  like Mike is
> >> suggesting
> >> ultimately might be my best way to go.
> >>
> >> 73 from Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Pat Byrne" <[log in to unmask]>
> >> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >> Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2011 6:54 PM
> >> Subject: Re: Need help in making sense out of contradictory SWR readings
> >>
> >>
> >> > Probably my best 160 antennna was a home brew vertical, about 40 feet
> >> > high.  A friend fabricated some parts; a floor flange attached to an
> >> > insulator, but I forget just how now, because this was forty years
> >> > ago!!  Between the flange was an insulator, thick fiberglass and then
> >> > another flange, back to back with the first.  These were held
> >> > together by nylon, or some other synthetic bolts.  On top of that was
> >> > water pipe, perhaps a 21 foot length.  On top of that the loading
> >> > coil from an old higain vertical, rewound with a lot of #12 enemeled
> >> > wire.  On top of that, was the rest of the Hygain antenna.  I
> >> > remember the capacity hat, four metal spokes were mounted just above
> >> > the loading coil, effectively lengthening the antenna.  The bottom of
> >> > the antenna was fed with insulated #12 wire to the transmitter, just
> >> > inside the shack, only a few feet from the base of the antenna.  The
> >> > wire terminated in an old broadcast variable capacitor, (Mike
> >> > remembers them)!! and the other side went to the antenna output of
> >> > the transmitter.  I know, transmitter and A M on top of it!!  The
> >> > ground system was a ground rod and a few random length radials spaded
> >> > in to the ground.  That antenna really got out and I could adjust it
> >> > perfectly to whatever frequency I needed with the variable cap.  Some
> >> > experimentation was needed with the loading coil and cap. to get the
> >> > tuning range inside of the range of the cap.
> >> > Wish I had that antenna back again.
> >> > Pat, K9JAu
> >