Drakefan wrote:



Try both ways. I have my MLB grounded to the support mast via the
outer conductor of the RG58, about a foot from the near end of the
random wire. The mast itself is grounded.

If your balun and coax is up in the air, you don't have an effective RF
ground to prevent common mode noise on the coax shield. That's why the
balun needs to be close to the ground so you can use a short ground wire
between the coax shield and the ground rod. This is how you achieve an
effective RF ground on the coax shield. It also provides a vertical
section of the antenna coming down from the horizontal wire. This is
required for a true inverted-L antenna. The vertical section (wire)
sometimes picks up a better signal than the horizontal wire of the
antenna so it's best to have both sections in use. Having the balun near
the ground allows for this configuration.

While it may seem like a vertical component in the antenna system helps
reception few would be able to get that vertical component long (high)
enough to resonate. What you will do is complicate the phasing, and
therefore the patterns of the whole antenna. If you want to bury stuff,
I suggest something like this may work better than an "inverted L".

http://www.bwantennas.com/ama/veeant.ama.htm

I'm speaking from my own experience, which is confined to big cities and
suburbs. If you live on a farm, you have more options.

The vertical section will likely pick up noise from the mains wiring in
the structure. If you use a good transformer and have a good
independent ground at both ends of the transmission line, you should be
OK. Like I said, try both ways.