On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 22:36:23 -0800, Richard Clark
wrote:

A 30 foot high 160M dipole is a notable ground hugging air cooled
resistor. A GAP is probably worse.

Good morning, Richard.

Actually, 30 feet is on the low side of "about right" on 160 and on
the high side of "about right" on 80, for NVIS work, of which I do a
lot. For DX, I agree that it's not of much use.

And yet...

My current antenna is an inverted V up about 35 feet in the center, 90
feet each leg, fed with ladder line. It started life as a
60-foot-high inverted V, full length for 160, in which configuration
it worked rather well. Then a storm came by and knocked a tree down
.... well, I digress... :-(

I had earlier put up the inverted V via one of those "expensive and
difficult" mechanisms I mentioned earlier (hired a 60-foot cherry
picker and operator). I couldn't do that again, so I hoisted what was
left of the antenna up to the top of my 35-foot tower, and trimmed the
legs so that they would stay within the property line. Kept the
ladder line feeder, and I tune it with an LDG RT-11 autotuner with the
LDG balun.

I use that antenna on all bands including 160, with a Yaesu FT-817
running a cloud-burning 5 watts, and it works amazingly well for the
power level.

But, as usual, I want more. :-)

Thanks to you and others here for the feedback on the GAP. I REALLY
wasn't up for spending almost half a grand for a vertical.