Stretching Stretch

The 40-meter inverted Vee that I stretched for 80 meters last week is a keeper. So I wanted to do something more permanent about how the antenna was supported.

Each end of the antenna was tied to trees with a rope. There was no give, so if one of the trees swayed enough in the wind, the antenna might break apart.

In the past, I used weighted plastic bottles as counterweights. But I thought there might be a better and simpler way, so I searched the Internet for ideas.

Somebody suggested bungee cords. (Why hadn't I thought of that?) So I bought some new bungee cords, shortened the rope on each end of the antenna, and placed a bungee cord between eye hooks bored into each tree and the shortened ropes.

Worked like a charm!

Stretch

The weather on Friday was unseasonably mild for this time of year in this neck of the woods: sunny, dry, mid-60's temperatures with a slight breeze. It was probably our last gasp before the winter weather sets in, so I thought some antenna work was in order.

The performance of my 40-meter inverted V is adequate for 7 MHz, but not much else, so I decided to try an 80-meter inverted V.

I did not have the time (or inclination) to climb the tower, take down the 40-meter antenna and replace it, so I stretched it for 80 meters by splicing 30 feet of copper wire onto each end of the 40-meter antenna. It took about three hours to accomplish the task, which included almost an hour of tree trimming with my trusty old pruning pole.

I was very happy with the results. Received signals on all bands were considerably stronger with "Stretch" and the SWR was very good on all bands... so good on some bands that the automatic antenna tuner in my KX3 did not have to work up a sweat.