160 Meter Transmitting Antennas at W8JI

200-Foot 12-inch face Tower

160-meter vertically polarized transmitting antennas center around this 200-foot tower.

When I moved here in December 1998, this Rohn 25 tower was hastily erected as a quick way to get on the air. It was removed and replaced in 2007. See this page for the change, lifting Rohn 25G Rohn 45G tower.

New 160 Omni Tower Below

OMNI Pattern

This new 200-foot tower is the main omni-directional antenna. It is now being populated with stacked Yagi's (nine antennas total) pointed towards Europe for 20 through 10 meters. It also supports ropes that hold 80 meter antennas, and long ropes that support four 1/4 wave tall vertical elements for a 160 meter four square. 

It is series-fed (insulated base) against a ground system of about one-hundred 200-ft radials. The radials are shallow buried 16-gauge bare solid copper wire known as "buss wire". A small low-pass L-network using a vacuum capacitor and variable inductor matches the tower. An 80-foot transmission line coiled around an insulated form between the L-network and RCS-8V antenna relay detunes this tower when the four-square is used. The eight direction four-square is detuned when the omni-tower is used. 

318-foot 18-inch face Tower

High and Low Dipoles are supported by this 318-foot tower.  

Most of my dipoles are supported by this "dipole support tower". This tower is 318-feet tall and sits on a base insulator. It can be used as a 160 meter vertical.

This tower started as an elevated radial test tower and grew from there. Because of the early elevated radial experiments, the 318-foot tower has the remains of 60 1/4-wl buried radials below it.

At the top: Our two-meter repeater antenna

Three nylon U-V resistant 7/16-inch ropes over pulleys for pulling up antennas. 

Guy lines are EHS steel, with sectionalizing insulators. There are three anchor distances. Look at guyline slope.   

At the 170-foot level there are two more ropes over pulleys. Just below that, the middle marker lights.

Want to climb up?

View from 318-foot tower

We are only at around 250 feet here, and looking towards the east. The far right horizon has a water vapor cloud from a power plant near Juliette, Georgia about 15 miles away. Nearby is the Whistle Stop Cafe, from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes.

Ground height is about 800 feet above sea level, but the important thing for VHF and UHF is the ground slowly rolls away in three directions. The effective height above average terrain for your view for the next 20 miles is around 350-feet, even though you are only  250ft above ground.

The rope in this picture comes from the end of one of my 318-ft high apex Inverted Vee Dipoles for 160 meters, and goes out over those tiny 80 to 100-foot tall trees about 700 feet away.

My 38 Beverages and 16 vertical receiving antennas are out in the pastures, spread over a 1500 by 3000-foot area. They are controlled by BCD data over underground control cables. Eight coaxial trunk lines feed the receiving antennas by running to switching hubs, where smaller antenna feedlines leave.

For stereo recordings of 160-meter signals, click here.   

Spotting - Multiplier Antenna

This is a rotating 200-foot tower with Yagis for 40 meters up through 2 meters. The rotating hardware comes from K0XG and has been trouble-free for several years. It has sixty 140- foot long buried radials for lightning protection and to help with low NVIS antennas like dipoles.