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[WAITING]

Putting together a station while waiting for the ARRL VEC and FCC to process my ticket.

Got a crazy idea!  Has anyone tried hanging (with non-conductive rope) an elevated feedpoint center-fed vertical antenna (like a GAP or Butternut) high up from a large tree branch?  I could get the feedpoint up at 40-50 feet, and at least 10-15 feet from the trunk.  It seems like it would improve both reception/xmision by getting up/over any possible obstructions to low-angle DX signals.  The only negatives I can think of are a longer coax run and possible RF absorption or coupling effect by the tree trunk.  Am I nuts or....?

My current alternatives would be horizontal wire antennas such as Antenna Work's windoms, G5RVs or W9INN doublets, which I could get up between trees at 50-60 feet.  

Any advice/input will be great appreciated!!

Sam  

[W4AN]

You bet!

This is a great idea.  When I first moved to Atlanta I bought a Cushcraft R-4 vertical.  I knew it would work better if were pulled up high, so I bought some black rope, attached it to the bottom of the vertical and taped it to the vertical at a few points up the side of the vertical.  I pulled it up about 50' at the top.  IT WORED GREAT!  

I think you will be happy with it.  Mine was painted black because I was living in an apartment complex at the time and antennas were not allowed.  I ran some coax in to the woods behind the complex and pulled this antenna up in the trees.  

73

Bill, W4AN