Antenna contemplations

The wire from my Inverted L End Fed Zepp met its doom this past August..  I went outside after a particularly bad evening of thunderstorms to find wire hanging down on the back porch and the other end hanging down the mast that was supporting the far end.  The gusty winds caused it to fall apart somewhere in the middle.

I didn't use it much as I could never get a decent match on the antenna tuner.  For whatever reason, perhaps the truly random length of it and the lack of a decent counterpoise, it always gave my auto tuner fits and starts.

This evening (and for the past few evenings) I was following a discussion on W3EDP antennas on the Polar Bear QRP Ops mailing list.  I did a lil' Googlin' and came up with this:

http://www.qsl.net/w5rin/Projects/Antennas/ae5vv/W3EDPAntenna.pdf

I can (I think) definitely fit a 67" hunk of wire along the run that was occupied by my ill fated EFZ.  According to the .pdf, that should make operations on 80 Meters and up possible.  However, I would really like to find a way to squeeze an 85" piece of wire, in order to make operations possible on 160 Meters, too.  I know, not nearly an ideal antler for 160 - but something is better than nothing (which is what I have right now).

I have the ladder line and I have a heavy duty 4:1 balun that my friend Bob W3BBO was not using and sent me.  I have the wire and the coax is still there. I just need to cobble one of these together and get it up before the weather really turns nasty for the winter.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!