I asked this question on Tower Talk, but the real antenna gurus seem to be on
the topband reflector!
I'm operating XE3/W0AH north of Cancun October 24- 31 including the CQWW
Phone. I'll be using an old Hygain 18AVQ vertical on a dock about 10-20 feet
out from shoreline (the Carribean) with two 25' lengths of 1" copper braid in
the water for ground. There is little tide, maybe 2 feet at most, and
usually little surf because of Isla Mujeres about 8 miles to the east.
My question- I can probably mount the vertical from about 2' to perhaps 10'
above high tide. Is higher better or worse?
I am bringing some wire and also a base loading coil and will attempt to
create some kind of inverted L (vertical part will probably only be about
20') or may try to load the 18AVQ with the base coil. Any ideas? Is PVC
pipe (or something else) available in Cancun strong enough for over 20' to
stand erect? I'm going to make some quad spreaders out of bamboo (local
flora) so maybe I can get over 20' of bamboo in the air with wire taped to it.
Doug W0AH
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