On May 20, 10:32*am, bpnjensen wrote:
...and I'm gonna use existing trees to put it up about 30 feet above
ground, 15 feet above my rooftop on a 5x100 foot suburban lot. *Power
lines both in front and back of my house, the ones behind are much
higher voltage, but not real high-tension wires.

All other things being equal, am I better off:

- 1 - Putting this thing up parallel to,
- or more perpendicular to, the powerlines?

Most of the time perpendicular.
Also keep both ends of the Antenna wire
as far away from the Power Lines as possible.

- 2 - Having the coax meet the wire at the base
- of the tree and grounding it there,

IMHO this represents the better 'safety' Ground
and the Inverted "L" Antenna is the better Omni-
Directional and All-Band SWL Antenna.

Plus running {burying} the Coax Cable under-the-ground
even if it is only 4"~6" is better than on-the-ground
{tripping} and up-in-the-air {noise}.

- or running the coax up the tree and then depending
- on the outer braid on the coax for ground purposes? *

IF you have to run the Coax Cable from the Roof
to the Tree in-the-air then this works.
* but use a Ground Rod at the base of the Tree
and a Heavy Ground Wire up the Tree to the
Matching Transformer, Coax Cable and Antenna
Wire 'connection'.

- The coax is grounded at the first termination point at
- my MFJ antenna phasing unit using a short, heavy
- copper wire to a ground rod.

Short and Heavy Ground Wires are always preferred.

- Thanks,
- Bruce

BpnJ,

The "Correct Way" to Install a Longwire Antenna
and Balun by Wellbrook
http://www.wellbrook.uk.com/longwire.html

We have all most likely done it the-wrong-way
more than once . . .
http://www.google.com/group/rec.radi...36d6e0588724aa

there is a better way out there somewhere . . . iane ~ RHF