Welcome to midpointing a 3-day weekend. Where we expect to get a lot done.
Let’s begin with this from a reader:
(from a dislocated W2 ham radio op in the Woodlands, TX)
“I remember you purchased a “mystery antenna” from K4TR, and were going
to evaluate it? Any feedback on it would be appreciated.”
Oh boy! Sea belts fastened?
Antenna Selection Soliloquy
The K4TR W5GI “Mystery Antenna” works just fine. As you know, these remarks are for the 40-meter version of the antenna and I also have the 20-meter version.
To describe each: the basic idea of a W5GI design is that it is a kind of poor man’s collinear made of plain wire and coax cable. Each of the two horizontal elements consists one one side of the center insulator of about a quarter wave of plain wire, a coax section (essentially for phasing), and finally, out to the end insulator, another quarter-wave of plain wire.
In real-life applications, the antenna gets very good reviews such as W5GI Mystery Antenna – K4TR Antenna Mfg & Wireman on eHam.
The length of the two coax sections (one on each side) is generally fed to the middle conductor only on the center insulator (on the hot) side. On the “cold” side (to the end insulator) the inner and outer are shorted together where that outboard plain quarter-wave plain wire begins.
The “trick shot” in getting the W5GI to work well is understanding the role and trimming of the coaxial sections. The coax must be of good quality because the single conductor in the center will be required to hold the weight of one side of the completed antenna in span.
Finding good quality coax (foam insulation is lighter than solid insulator PE material) is only part of the problem on such antennas. The other issue is getting the trimming right and for this, accurate assessment of the velocity factor of the coax becomes very important for proper phase relationships. These are more clear upon study of De-mystifying the W5GI Mystery Antenna at OwenDuffy.net.
Jim Stefano, W2COP, did a (2020) presentation for the Rochester Amateur Radio Association (https://www.rochesterham.org/meetings/2020-05-06%20G5RV%20Presentation.pdf) where in a later slide (#39 I seem to recall), he offered very good comments describing how the W5GI works. The reason you want to spend some time – going through his whole presentation – is that it’s a thorough review of competing OCFD designs as well as other options. Specifically, his remarks on the shortcomings of the G5RV versus the ZS6BKW design warrant close attention.
There are several good makers – I chose John Dube’s (K4TR) antennas, though a UK maker also gets good reviews. I also went for John’s “special extended” – The 40-meter version of the basic (20-meter) W5GI.
Depending on your real estate situation, this may be too big for many in-city homes. It spans about 200-feet, in contrast to the 20-meter version’s 100-feet. Additionally, the twin-lead matching section (which enables the multiband operation) and is about 30-feet on the 20-meter version, is more like 50-feet (or a bit more) on the special super-sized 40-meter version.
Operational Results
Having been a ham (since 1963) I have come to appreciate several little thought-of aspects to antenna selection and installation.
The first is that every ham should take advantage of Ray Lewallen’s extreme generosity and download his superb antenna modeling system EZNEC. It’s at https://eznec.com. Antenna modeling will reveal amazing aspects to antenna selection that while all of us “kinda know ’em” is really quantifiable with Lewallen’s software.
It will take some time, sure. But coupled with some great books, especially by the late W4RNL’s (L.B. Cebik’s landmark collection of research), very accurate predictions of field performance will be attainable.
Pay particular note that in order to gain proper insights, you will need to search for the FCC’s national ground conductivity maps and use a viable factor for local ground conductance.
The second guidance point would be to ensure you understand how to utilize antenna modeling segment declarations. The easiest way to do this is to understand that the Frequency declaration on the main page of the program drives the number of segments and that on higher bands more segments are necessary. This translates, any time you vary a wire length of a proposed antenna, to re-segmenting the analysis using either conservative or minimal numbers of nodes.
The third point is that many popular antennas, such as the G5RV and ZS6BKW and the OCFD designs, all become end-firing on higher frequencies. So, take a 40-meter OCFD, for example, it will have three essential operating modes at typical 50-60 foot high (and lower) installation levels.
On the 80-meter band, all of these antennas tend to operate in what may be thought of as a “ground proximity mode.” In this space, a fraction of a wavelength above ground, the antenna will operate in what is (essentially) an “omnidirectional” mode. Lots of NVIS! (Near-vertical incident sky-wave, right?)
As the antenna is raised, to the ¼ wavelength (and higher) elevation over the ground, the ground reflections begin to cohere such that the basic antenna pattern, such as broadside to the wire direction, appears. In other words, on 80-meters, a low-level antenna is mainly ominidirectional but at 120-feet (1/2-wave) the antenna presents a lobe of radiation on either side of – and perpendicular to – the antenna wire direction.
Thus, in Texas, an East-West hung dipole begins to fire north-south broadside, as it is raised above ground around 50-100 feet, or higher. Frequency dependent.
The final point, is this notion is exactly opposite of what happens when an antenna is operated on harmonic frequencies! Thus, we come to see how a North-South hung antenna of the G5/ZS6/OCFD sort would likely be a good performer into Europe and Asia (corresponding to NE and NW nodes it its pattern, while 40-meters might radiate best East-West and be essentially non-directional on 80-meters.
Now we get to the main discussion of my operating experiences with both antennas.
First. The 20-meter W5GI, mounted East-West is a great antenna. Especially when (at 60-feet up, where mine is) the antenna has begun to exhibit gain and the pattern is very much as expected. Great signal reports.
OK, here’s where we have to get into some discernment. This is a smaller (electrically) antenna (aperture-wise) than a full-sized antenna on 80 meters. Meaning, you won’t get the Big signal that a full-sized resonant dipole would produce on 80. On 40-meters, it is closer to parity.
Now, the reason I have two of John’s w5GI’s is that there’s one more thing we haven’t talked about much and that is take-off angles. Both are very good, but (paradoxically) in some instances, very good can be very bad.
Take-Off Angles Matter
We begin with the understanding that lobe positions and take-off angles are everything. On 80-meters and 40-metrers (day) the main communications takeoff angle is NVIS – the near vertical incident skywave. The F2 layer, which lowers and improves ionosphere reflectivity at night, is too high to be useful with high path absorption daytime. On the other hand, at night, we want as much low takeoff angle as we can get.
I generally run a selection of antennas (low OCFD for general daytime use), the 40-meter W5GI and the 20-meter W5GI. I prefer CW and when I want to “play radio” I want to have solid contacts on whatever band I pick, regardless of the time of day.
So take the 40-meter band. In the daytime, close in, my North-South OCFD will equal or outperform the W5GI. Not the antenna’s FAULT. We would be in daytime NVIS conditions says the clock. Great out to 200-400 miles out, depending on solar conditions. This is why reader Hank (on the Big Island of Hawai’i) uses NVIS on 40 for the Hawaiian inter-island net.
Where the W5GI 40-meter version (remember, it’s 200-feet wide and 60-feet up) absolutely creams the OCFD is when the F2 is down and DX (distant) propagation is in. Then, especially with grayline open to the western Pacific, I am into “if I can hear it, I can work it” mode on 40-CW.
The effect is less pronounced (if you can hang a North-South OCFD made of 2” horse fence tape, hang it at 60-feet, and have it fed with 450-ohm ladder line with a low-loss antenna tuner). The W5GI will wins, but only on some DX but also state-side contacts.
This is accounted for by the fact that the W5GI has multiple nodes, but into Europe and central Africa on a heading of 40-degrees east or north where the OCFD end-firing really struts its stuff, then the OCFD wins.
Because of size and elevation, the OCFD beats the 40-meter specific W5GI under very tightly bounded conditions. That is, if the band is in short NVIS mode, the OCFD will do better. But if the NVIS mode is out long, then the W5GI will work better.
On 40, though, the W5GI (CW, night, western Pacific region) will totally cream the OCFD because of the lessening of end-fire as the OCFD pattern becomes two kidney-shaped lobes on 40.
But you have brought up a key point about HF operations that most ops never really think through: Antenna selection with purpose and based on knowledge.
It is common in our hobby for people to look for the “One magic Bullet Antenna.” There is no such animal.
Until my son gets down here and we refurb the lightning-blown trap on the AS-4-WB beam on the tower, I get good gain with the 20-meter W5GI. Because this is a band that is generally open for DX (via low-angle skywave) or not.
On 40 meters, the extended W5GI gives me great low angle for DX (and some gain, too, don’t forget). But here, the OCFD will often do a bit better, as on a path length of, oh, say 430 miles (Palestine, TX to Amarillo, TX) during daytime on a “long NVIS day.” On a short NVIS day, the OCFD will do better.
On 80-meters, the OCFD horse-tape open wire will do better when it’s up but the plain wire coax and balun version OCFD won before. This is because of the low band focus on omnidirectional results under ½ wave above ground.
I hope this clarifies your thinking a bit. Antenna selection and installation can be a technical problem, a financial decision tree, and all bounded by property considerations with a dollop of zoning Nazis on the side.
I don’t envy you the gauntlet to be run!
For Everything Else Worth Knowing?
…about ham antennas, please visit the ON5AU archive called the L.B. Cebik_Collection.
And learn some old-school stuff. Like about The Wouff-Hong, the Rettysnitch, and the What?
The main topic on the 3806 gathering on the 80-meter band, is offering to help north Texas hams set up rope tows and snowboard rentals for the year’s big snow (all of 1″) which is coming this week. Bring Your Own Snow Bunny…
Write when you get rich, or can do 25 WPM CW…
Vy 73
George@ure.net AC7x
Uncle “Martin” had retractable antennas…
A human-appearing extraterrestrial in a one-man spaceship nearly collides at high altitude with the U.S. Air Force’s rocket plane, the North American X-15. The spaceship’s pilot is a 450-year-old anthropologist from Mars. Tim O’Hara, a young newspaper reporter for The Los Angeles Sun, is on his way home from Edwards Air Force Base, where he had gone to report on the flight of the X-15. Returning home to Los Angeles, O’Hara spots the same silver spaceship coming down quickly, after which it crash lands nearby.
Tim takes in the Martian, saying to other people that he is Tim’s Uncle Martin. The Martian refuses to reveal any of his special traits to humans, other than Tim, to avoid both publicity and human panic. Tim agrees to keep the Martian’s Earth identity a secret while he attempts to repair his spaceship. Uncle Martin has various unusual powers: He can raise two retractable antennae from the back of his head and become invisible;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Favorite_Martian
I was watching LiveNews Fox on YouTube yesterday evening and saw a press conference put on by the city of Houston, Texas about the cold snap blowing in today. Around 1990 we had a cold snap come through Central California, pools had 6 inches of ice, many trees suffered some damage.
We have a political red wave of common sense gaining strength in California, it only took decades of mismanagement to help it manifest. Oakland and other parts have become like 3rd world countries, Fentanyl, homeless encampments, crime, lawlessness, theft of public utilities, like copper wire for stoplights, etc. governor Newsom has had the California highway patrol patrolling in Oakland, because the Oakland police has a no pursuit policy, they need the National Guard and martial law, and a resumption of law-enforcement.
The cities should not be allowed to descend to such a state. Gavin Newsom has no political future on the national level, it’s waning in CA finally, he hasn’t fully realized it yet.
I remember in the late 1970s -1980s driving through the mountains with my dad when they were doing controlled burns, brush clearing, forest management. Environmental regulations, fears about climate change in global warming, save the forest, save the trees ideology, oh just let nature be, leads to massive and disastrous fires when they happen, and they can just blame climate change and call it a natural disaster, that’s why the insurance companies pulled Out of the risky zones in California
I just bought a new ice chest. The arctic blue color was on sale. Blue is a hot cool color once again. Cost was about a third to half what a Yeti goes for, with similar performance . The performance reviews on the high performance ice chests can be very difficult to evaluate. Typically the high end coolers have model designations which mislead about actual capacity. The one I bought has a full 50 qt capacity. It is more vertical and boxy than the competition, and outperformed a smaller cooler from Yeti. A smaller cooler from that same product line which was more rectangular in shape underperformed in other testing. Watch carefully for actual capacity in comparisons reviews, and the shape of the cooler makes a lot of difference, not just the insulation thickness. The closer to a square shape, and the the thicker the insulation, the better it will perform. I don’t have sufficient operating experience to give a plug for the new one yet.
I need to look into infrared reflective paint for the house. Probably won’t be blue. There are fire-resistant infrared reflective paints out there, but finding one that isn’t gloss white only may be an R&D project.
ATL: hanging around inside having done (3) excursions outdoors, (1) to help E2 pack and depart for his (8) hour (best case) drive back to the deeply frozen North in lower MN. It’s 17F here and falling. It’s -4F there headed to Nadir at or around -18F. Tough people the Northern fam.
It’s all about dressing appropriately and minimizing exposure. Don’t have long johns? Wear sweatpants or fleece loungers inside denims. Double socks and double gloves to keep extremities from robbing the body core. Layer up the core too. I have been wearing a fleece vest as liner over a tech LS shirt and under a hoody. And, wear a hat.
Mrs. E made one more massive breakfast for E2 and packed enough food / drinks to survive for days in the car. Added in various and sundry survival bits including air activated hot pouches and a washed out tuna can with votive candle (this will raise the interior temp in a car by 10-15 degrees). I shoveled to and brushed off his car …
A series of waterfowl, mostly geese, have kept the puddle open 3/4 mile to my South but, will they patrol through -7F on Tuesday? TBD. Done with my last gasp winter-proofing (err, resistant) so hope to stay indoors for the next couple days unless His Catness cares to go for a stroll?
Possibly over the next (48) hourse a few indoors to-dos will occur but, for now, I have no plans. Should the power go out I can spin up a few plans to remain here, and warm enough but … nope, nuttin’ honey.
Tomorrow at first light I’ll strike the Whiskey Rebellion flag riding at half-mast and hoist Stars and Stripes to masthead. At dusk I’ll do off the US flag and fly none until the (30) day observance for Jimmy. There. I have something to do …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion
Stay warm all,
Egor
I grew up in Wisconsin, further north than ‘Southern Minnesota’. I remember that for two months in winter, Jan-Feb, the highs for the days were -20F. Lower at night, of course. I have been outside tramping thru snow several hundred yards to read meters when it was -60F temp… not ‘wind chill’. Layers of clothing are survival. A scarf tied over the mouth for breathing… periodically picking the ice chunk off the scarf. Freezing steam from the mouth will grow ice crystals on eyelashes. Delivering newspapers predawn, I would blink and my eyes would freeze shut. Then I had to quickly remove gloves and pick ice out of my eyelashes so I could see again, then put gloves back on numb hands. Shovel, blankets (wool), and survival supplies in the car also. Back then I could only dream about living on a warm tropical isle.
all up in the air,,, to shout ure messages,,,
off center feed di—-,, what the hell is Catherine Herridge doing in Camp Justice,,, sending from an off center stage? not in DC !!!
is she getting some news? to share with US, as it has been her career to do so, Zippity do dah
https://x.com/C__Herridge/status/1881032286302519625
kind of like she has insider ‘trending’ news, is there head lines in her news,, to come.
when oppurtunity knocks, standing by the door is a good place to be, prepared!
for some reason the name Jeff Sessions lingers in my memory, was he not a JAG officer
it is the 19th,,, Trump is throwing a party,,,
tomorrow is the BIG BANG DAY
after 4 yrs of the White House been in belligerent possession,,, stolen property,, joe bribems did not recieve 81 million legal votes,,, but has 81 million ballots, not Quite the same thing. Joe’s allegiance is to those who gave him ballots over those who vote.
the time is at hand.
7 yrs ago on this date, Jan 19,,, Q posted a photo of Chuck Schumer
https://qalerts.app/?q=%23%23569
I have an OCFD Buckmaster Dipole for 80-6 running above my fence line for a NVIS ground reflector. Orientaton is 300 degrees. This time of year I get grey line propagation in the evening that catches ‘Buffalo Bill’ on 40 meters in South Africa at his sunrise time. He is within a couple hundred miles of my exact antipode. He comes in here S9+ most evenings. I’m still trying to figure if the signals come NE path, or SW path for me.
I’m a weak, undereducated, low-performing, ham radio op. Antenna theory and propagation are deep subjects WAY beyond my ken. Much too complex for my easy grok.
…and —
“Conditions” are not entirely pedictable, or regular. They’re highly variable over short time spans, and it’s only matter, to my stoopid brayne, if conditions are good enough to have fun NOW. All the math and science is highly respectable, but somewhat ivory tower and irrelevent when I turn my radio on.
I build the best antennas I can — I only rerely buy one. They’re generally too easy to make. Then, I cast my fate to the fickle winds of time, nature, and space,, hoping for a good environment for radio.
I check the WWVs and the CHUs, and then the HF path over the Atlantic to “Shannon Aerradio” on 4 HF frequencies. That regime almost always tells me in less than a minute if radio propagation conditions are generally good, or if I should go read a magazine.
I do wish I was smarter.
(I am the “D-minus Extra.” Got it by only one question. Took the test on a challenge-whim, and got lucky…)
73
KW1B
Wow…….
through the years I have lent a hand up to so many.. the new cola along with the new increases was a joke.. I figured three hundred shy I was off.. I will know more in a few days after car insurance etc comes out my guess is five or six .. but I try to keep ahead of it..the yearly budget quandry.. yesterday I get three calls one seemed frantic they needed food I told all of them didn’t you pay attention..I know you got the same. prices I did this isn’t a rescue situation this is a budget and make it fit issue..no one is going to save your butt everyone is in the same boat..you have to jungle and make that square peg fit in the round hole and that requires chopping the corners off of that log..
so I told them they need to do a budget.. or call social services their social worker and tell them they need a state fiduciary payee.. banks etc cannot argue with a state payee and they can work miracles..or I can help them with a budget.. cut everything out..you don’t need an expensive cell phone or high speed internet cut cable ties.. etc.
anyway I took a few bags of groceries over to the one that was frantic for food a few pounds of burger a steak couple roasts enough canned goods to last them the month etc.. OMG .. through the years I have given a hand up to a lot of people.. this elderly couple was probably the most emotional of anyone..
I was shocked at how much it relieved her..
2025 is going to be a lean year for many. Retirees who own their home for cash with a reasonable property tax will get by. Those who are renting or are flushing a mortgage payment each month are going to be in trouble. As I showed yesterday in analysis of cost of living nationwide, it is housing associated costs that will get you.
I expect the creditors to crack down on individuals whose income is declining, especially age 58 and above. Corporate America has effectively disenfranchised everyone over 58 years of age.
Take care of your better half and yourself ahead of the rest.
1. Control hobby and capital costs, meaning, don’t buy sh!t you don’t need, especially prepping supplies.
2. Look hard at recurring expenses. If you can qualify for Medicare part C, what are you waiting on ? Same for the spouse.
3. Control your comm expenses. Two unlimited cell phones + a Magic Jack are under $60 a month. Compare cable against other options. If you are paying $200 a month for optional cable services, look at bare web service and maybe a combination of Amazon services and a streaming service like Sling or Youtube. Sling is back down to $100 prepaid per quarter.
4. Shop around for insurance. You may not need to be carrying as much insurance as you once did.
(“2025 is going to be a lean year for many. Retirees who own their home for cash with a reasonable property tax will get by. Those who are renting or are flushing a mortgage payment each month are going to be in trouble. “)
That would be nice but this year especially is different. this year we got the cola increase the same day we got the new tax bill increase for property taxes the increase in every essential utility and even increases in all subscription services and insurance rates.. so the social security even though it went up the rest took it down plus.. so what do you cut.. I did away with everything extra.. cut insurances and attempted to get lower medical insurance.. taxes dam that’s a killer ..but How it usually works…
Medical expenses takes you down..our medical expenses are big but its that odd thing that puts you in San assisted living center or nursing home. to get in a good one you have to be self pay ..at a quarter mil a year..even with Medicare they want that deposit.. before cares..
you find the largest divorce among the elderly..mostly because the nursing home takes everything and the spouse after losing the farm ends up unable to survive so they sleep in the car.
nursing homes well that’s another thing.. they take in to many title nineteen Medicaid patients..they can’t pay for the expenses of the facility and still meet federal guidelines and requirements. the assisted living center my wife worked at..sells every three to five Years. they don’t take in enough money to meet wages much less anything else. unlike a federal hospital that is funded through taxes these are self pay. Medicaid offers them 3.00 an hour for patient care.so every year they get rid of a percentage of the higher waged employees and run short shifts..the administration wages seem justified..
near us is low income housing..the rent at low income housing is right at what we take in.. where we are fourth percent is just car and home insurance that is required to have by the bank..taxes puts it way over the fifty percent of income. now I have high speed internet.. 130 a month I am cutting that back to half speed..at 80 then even though its required one of the cars will lose its policy .. the dealership has been begging to buy the wife’s car..I have been considering selling it. food well a good diet or bulls how many elderly that eat dog and cat food would shock you..I know one that buys the cheapest tv dinners ..splits it and that is his whole days nutrition..meals on wheels one meal a day comes to couple hundred per person.
we have cut out all spending cut grave expenses no dining out at all and the two cups of Starbucks a week no more. taxes doubled because of a new school and teacher wages..every utility increased insurance costs increased food increased .. so no cellphone that’s an average of what twenty percent of the standard social security pay.. no high speed internet that’s ten percent of monthly social security.. medical want to get your medications for under two hundred bucks a pop.. that medication policy is five percent of a monthly income..with auto and home insurance and medical insurance taxes leaves us six hundred a month to live on..
this is pretty much average for everyone ..
I have debated selling out and moving some countries that still have low-cost of living ..
I will cut back high speed I termed and visit with the bank on whether or not I can reduce the auto insurance ..every monthly subscription is now cut off.. low income housing is actually more than what people get in low income..
which is why I told the three the other day Call social security talk to their case worker and have them get them a fiduciary payee .. banks and any loan companies can’t argue with them..they can move mountains..
medical takes everything you have to be extremely wealthy to not lose everything to the medical and legal system..
the people spend trillions a year for insurances to protect them for health accident and catastrophic events..yet insurance companies make one of the biggest profitable companies around.. medical a close contestant ..we give about a hundred billion a year research just so they can charge us tens of thousands of percent more than any where else..
hospitals hand out huge bonuses and insurance companies the same some of the coolest I services I have been to were funded by the pharmaceutical companies..
old people lose their life savings and everything they have to just stay warm.
they need to put regulations back on essential services..
the first thing anyone should do if A lived one gets into a nursing home get a divorce.. otherwise they take it all and the spouse ends up living in his car.. made couches and beds up for so many through the years..
I am drinking more decaf tea and maybe one cup of the real deal on the weekdays at home. I no longer go in coffee shops. On the weekend, I order decaf coffee with a breakfast plate. All other meals out (which I am gradually reducing) I order water. With me telecommuting, I eat out no more than one or two meals total on weekdays, and those are mostly lunch specials, or a breakfast sandwich. There is one local barbecue place that has good breakfast tacos for $3.50 ea., but I don’t get over there much. Vitacost (Kroger) is a good place to look for specials on teas and muesli online. They have things year round you can’t find in local stores.
I looked at the cost of eggs at the grocery the other day, then headed for TV dinners. I eat some canned human food, and more TV dinners than I ever did when I was younger, partly because the TV dinners are a lot better than they were back then. Local, it is difficult to eat out for less than a $20 incl tip. The canned human food is as cheap as most palatable pooch food, so why would you, other than martyrdom? Wolf brand homestyle chili is cost effective protein.
A needed antibiotics the other week. I called into the doctor, and his help called in a zero dollar script. That’s a first. I have come to like my current doctors. The staffs have gotten better about playing off Medicare against the employer’s insurance to cut my out of pocket. Medicare back-up will pay more if steered properly.
Lesson for the youngsters- achieving cash housing should be your no. 1 priority. It can mean the difference between a decent standard of living and not living.
I always wondered if those tall antennas drew lightning. I’ve also wondered if the necessary equipment multiplied on it’s own. I have known women who’s husband’s very long hobby tables were overflowing with stuff. Just curious. :)
Yes, lightning tends to head for the highest local ground potential. This is why ham radio towers are grounded well (same with cell towers).
Being near a (well-grounded) tower sets up a “cone of protection” for people. Ablut a 45 degrees down slope out of the highest grounded point. (They did a lot of st5udies on sailboats which have lighting issues on the high seas in storm conditions)
I wish I could contain my hobby to a few long tables, lol.
Happy NFL Playoff Day, y’all.
This is day 4 of no furnace, for me. Temps will be in the double-digits below zero for the next three days, with wind chills somewhere between 30 and 50 degrees below zero. I’m on my primary heat backup (which is honestly warmer than my furnace, although there’s a chance of pipe freezage.) It is annoying, but not a big deal, and it’s a good SHTF torture test.
The real danger is it warmed up a few days ago and we got snow melt saturation, which means the ground is now as hard as concrete, and so slick you can suffer a fall just by looking at it. Snow blower is at the ready, but I don’t expect more than a dusting. The snow is kinda reserved for the Eastern Seaboard, and they can have it. I’d as soon leave whatever falls alone. The snow will make the ground a lot less slippery than it is right now.
Still beating the drum for the “myantennas” 75-10 EFHW. not much bandwidth on 80-75, but that’s to be expected. no tuner needed on 40-20-15-17-12. Swr just sucks on 10 but with a tuner still talking around the world. My fav thing is busting pileups on 20 with 100 watts. “Big signal” they all tell me. It is truly the best performing antenna I’ve ever owned. Transformer at 3 foot off the ground, up 17 feet vertically, to 20 feet, then off to the south toward the woods. Highest point is maybe 25 feet. I use it for SWL, AM broadcast dxing, listening to HF aeronautical over the western Atlantic. Like I say, it just works.