MMANA-GAL - 160m Inverted Double L - Hightail Pitchfork

Comparison of a 1/4 Wave Vertical for 160m vs. this design I've been playing around at.  No. 1 is my design so far while No. 2 is the 1/4 wave vertical.  The idea being to try to improve TX gain in a specific direction.  I may actually build this or something similar to this in September this year.

MMANA-GAL - 160m Inverted L - Hightail Pitchfork

I've been putzing around with mmana-gal software - I download (for windows) this program.  I have already used this to model my current 80m Inverted L with resonant radials antenna and it showed me several ways I could tweak it to tune it for R=50, Jx = 0 and a Flat SWR.  If you've never built and used an Inverted L, you should recognize that as simple as this antenna looks, there is a LOT going on, and it's actually fairly complex, and VERY easy to fubar the pattern it presents, I know this first hand :-)

At any rate, I've been starting to design my new 160m Inverted L.  First using resonant radials, which is probably not what I'll actually build, because of the position of the radials with respect to the wild-life, and human-life around it. (but maybe :-)   I also may tweak it a bit more.  I wanted to share the images from MMANA-GAL from the model I've been playing around with.  This is similar to the 80m L that I'm currently using, minus the two added 'pitchfork' tines "In the front".   And raised and shortened the 'trailing' radial.  That's right I said, 'In the front' of the vertical antenna.  

The general idea is that most of the easy DX from here is generally in EU.  At least there is a high concentration of DXCC in that path.  And since I'm currently sitting with 1 (USA) confirmed 160m QSL on LotW...it stands to reason that I might try to encourage my vertical to go towards EU as much as possible.

I have also been messing around with a similar model using a parasitic element (or two)...but I'm still working on that one.

Caveat: This is only the second time I've used this software to model an antenna.  So I'm a newbie, and there are likely to be some oddities in what I've done here.  I will say that I modeled my current 80m "L" and tweaked the model looking for a way to improve the EU directed lobe, and then tried that on EU openings every night for a week, and it was fairly obvious that the changes DID make a difference based on EU spots of my TX signal on PSKr.  The predicted gain in the direction of EU showed up in my seeing more consistent deeper EU spots on PSKr.  I suppose some of that could just be conditions.  Since I'm also a total newbie to 80m as of just a few months ago I only had 9 confirmed worked on 80m.  I'm now sitting at 91 confirmed as of today, and 118 worked.

Anyway here is some of the detail of this 160m Inverted L that I'm naming an "Inverted L - Hightail Pitchfork".  For the additional two "forward" radials under the horizontal "L wire" section.

The model shows a 2.0 dBi gain in the azimuth of the Horizontal "L wire" at as low as 10 degrees.  And it increases from there 20 degrees shows 3.3 dBi, and 30 degrees shows 3.7 dBi.   When I made similar mod's to my 80m "L"  I suddenly started consistently seeing more -23, -24 spots as where I had none before.  I think that's a decent indicator, although obviously it's not very scientific, but it is proof that SOMETHING improved in that path...and since I haven't changed anything else with my 200w TX setup I'm taking that as a positive indicator at the very least.

I have a LOT more learning to do.  I'll admit that, and I'm a complete NOOBIE when it comes to 80m, and 160m and really anything below 30m.

Clicking on these images will bring up a larger version.

New Tower (finally started construction)

I've finally begun construction of a new Free-Standing Rohn 55G tower which will be feet high.  That height will be 2x the height I've been at since arriving here...with my Rope-Tower suspending the 32ft long boom yagi from two trees SEEN HERE.

After 5 test holes 3 of which I ran into sold bed-rock (that's what you tend to get in Maine living on an island) I finally found a decent spot.

Click Images for Larger versions

Here you can still see my 'Rope Tower' in the background. 

First test hold near the large bolder (right) 3 ft to solid bedrock

To Shallow for my taste and I didn't want to drill bed rock for anchors 

I had to move to the south about 4 feet to avoid more bed rock.
So I'll have to add some framing now, and backfill it.

This whole will be 5x5 feet and 4.5 feet deep when I'm all done.  It's currently a little more than 5 feet deep, but I'll be adding crushed rock to the base.

Almost ready for backfill - this only happened because I bumped into bed rock in the area on the right so I have to move over a bit.

On 5/25 I finished all the basic prep work I'm going to do and I have the tower plum vertically and braced in place to keep it skidding around as they dump concrete in the whole.

YAY and it's PLUM / Level!  Whoot!

2020-05-30

Big tree removal - One more to go after this one

2020-05-31
Tower Raising

One half section remaining.  When completed the Top antenna will be at about 42 ft.

Last section in place 4:48pm 20mph wind gusts (yuck)

No more tower sections.

Just need to mount some antenna's, and a rotor and some wires and call it done.

Camera angle is weird by you get the idea.  It's not pointing downward, its horizontal.   I was in a hurry this morning.  Wind picked up 6/1/2020 and I wasn't able to really get as much down as I wanted to.  But I did cut down 3 more trees one was a 60ft'er about 2ft around.

When this is done there will be another identical antenna half way between the ground and the top one.  It'll be fixed on EU (at least for now) The top one will rotate.  They will be switchable where BOTH are in use the same time, or just the top, or just the bottom you get the idea (Bip/Bop).

For SCALE the antenna the top is 32 ft long :-)

I got this antenna up around 8am I think.

Here is what it's heard from 8am until 4pm