Tweeking The Feed Line
I finally got around to re running the carolina windom feed line to try and gain an improved/optimum arrangement. The previous arrangement was temporary as the feed line intercepted the balun at around 45°. The new feed line installation is now at 90° and allows the feed line to terminate at the choke with much more of a straight drop. As an idea to try cut down unwanted QRN, I added a short ground wire to a copper stake which is attached to the base of the choke via the plug connection. This is a simple experiment that I have been pondering over for a while. So far I have noticed signals received seem much quieter with very low noise levels on 80M as well as improved noise levels on 40M. I shall be once again comparing and experimenting as I switch between my other antennas as I conduct some tests. It will be interesting to see if the different feed line route changes the direction of the radiated RF field from the antenna and hopefully help it work even better.