Hello,
I have plenty of experience with antennas on mountain tops.
I have tried dipoles on mountain tops with good results. I usually tie
off the center of the dipole at around 15' to 20'. The mountain height
does the rest. I once had a very interesting experience with the issue
of HF and antenna height. We were in a large motor home operating the PA
OSO Party on 20m. The band sounded poor, but as we climbed the mountain,
I started to work more and more people. By the time we reached the
summit , I had a pileup! As we descended, the Qs stated to drop off. At
the bottom of the mountain we all were screaming to the driver to go
back up!! Recently I compared a 40m dipole fed with 300 ohm ladder line
up 20 feet to a ground-mounted vertical on a 100 foot cliff at Turkey
Point Lighthouse, MD. The vertical beat the dipole by around two
S-Units. This wasn't DX either just US contacts. I tried both on 40m and
20m. In the past, a group of us always operated the PA QSO Party at a
Boy Scout Camp in PA. We usually finished near the top or won the MS
Category. We used a A3S Tribander up around 20' and two dipoles. One
dipole was setup at a height of 10'. This was our cloud warmer for the
close in contacts. The other dipole was our (40m beam).
We joked about this antenna because most ops would say, " what type beam
are you using?" In reality it was a 260' dipole fed with 400 ohm ladder
line up around 50'. So you see, you have to setup a dipole for the area
you want to cover.
I once meet Rich Arland, K7SZ, on top of the AT here in PA. He spent
hours setting up his dipole in the trees. I showed up and tied the
center of my AT Dipole off at around 15'. I then just threw the ends
over some brush at a height of around 6' off the ground. Keep the ends
at least 6' off the ground! Rich couldn't believe how well this setup
worked and how little effort was spent to put it up. He operated on 40m
with my antenna and had a pileup for most of the afternoon! Again erect
the dipole for whom you want to work. We worked the close-in stuff that
day. I once hiked to the summit of Mt. Washington, but that's another
story...!
If anyone is interested in what an AT Dipole looks like, look in Rich
Arland, K7SZ's book entitled, " Low Power Communication: The Art and
Science of QRP." Look in chapter six. If anyone wants to view an AT
Dipole, go to
http://www.wa3wsj.com72,
Ed, WA3WSJ
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