[600MRG] Basic, Non-Technical Details of my Tree-Tenna

[KU4XR]

Greeting everyone :

After getting several requests for the details on my Tree-Tenna
experiment setup;
I decided to post it to the lists for anyone to read who wants to..
I'll throw in this disclaimer that the following is for entertainment
purposes only.. hi - hi

As far as for Antenna Theory, or Why does this thing even work ? ;
Any explanation is possible with this experimental antenna.. I have
done nothing,
" By the book " to say.. I live in a 14 X 48 aluminum sided trailer home..
I have the body of the trailer connected to the power company ground
at the service pole.. The steel frame that the trailer sits on is also grounded
to service ground.. I have an 8 foot rod driven in at the window to my radio..
There are 2 more 8 foot rods, spaced 8 feet apart, to form a
triangle..I did this
back when I was running my lowFER beacon on 1750 meters.. All the rods are
connected to each other, as well as service ground.. I have 12, - 32
feet insulated
radials on top of the ground in a semi-circle connected to the main
ground rod..
no radials go under my trailer.. The radials are bonded together with
a perimeter wire..
There are 12, - 50 foot aluminum fence wire radials laying on the
ground which are
connected to the main ground rod.. They were the first radials I put
down in 2009,
so they are starting to deteriorate.. The bond from the trailer to the
service ground is
done with coax braid, connected to the trailer siding, and buried for
about 10 feet over
to the power pole..It is connected to the ground wire going up the
pole, using a brass
clamp.. That pretty much describes my grounding.. " Everything " Is
bonded together
in the ground system - be that good, or bad..
What I call the antenna is insulated #18 rotator wire.. It is
terminated into the
root of the tree using a 1-1/2 inch lag bolt and stainless steel
washers to pinch
the wire into the tree root.. The wire is buried just underneath the
soil for mowing,
and runs about 60 feet, which reaches the back side of my trailer.. I
run the wire up
the side of the trailer, tieing it off to several screws that hold the
siding on.. It goes up
to a height of about 10 feet.. The wire runs 14 feet across the end of
the trailer, then
turns around the corner, and goes upward at a 45 degree angle for
about 8 feet or so,
up to about 15 feet above earth.. I wedged the wire behind a fake
window shutter just
for holding it in place, and then it drops down to about 4 feet above
the earth, and
comes in the window thru a short piece of PVC pipe.. Inside the
window; it turns up
the wall and goes to a " J " hook in the ceiling, and then crosses
over the window,
going about 6 feet, where it is tied off to the wall, and turns down
to end at the radio
desk..
Matching.. if you want to call it that, goes like this.. The end of
the wire ( antenna ) ,
which is a total length from end to end , of 100 feet.. The radio end
is wound 11 turns
thru an unknown value toroid, scavenged from an old monitor..I have not measured
the Inductance value of the toroid coil, I just wound it until the
noise level peaked in
the 630 meter range.. I then have a variable Inductor out of an old AM
radio, in series
with the antenna wire to peak it.. I have a 9 to 1 balun that the
antenna is connected to,
and the ground of the High Impedance side is connected to the station
/ service ground,
with the Low Impedance side going to the radio.. I Must, have the
balun in line or the
reception is very weak, and, it must be connected to the station
ground, or the noise level
is S-9.. with the balun grounded; the noise level drops to S-1 and is
only radio static, and
some weak powerline buzz..
This is only an experiment for fun, and to see what it would do, and
was never intended to
" prove " anything at all.. Interestingly; it works way beyond my
expectations, and for
reasons that are way beyond my knowledge..
The Tree-Tenna receives decently all the way down to 30 KHz, but the
tuning gets very
touchy the lower in frequency I go, which is to be expected..
To continue my experiment further; there is another Hickory Nut tree
with the same
proportions as the one I am connected to, spaced about 10 feet from
it.. I may tap into
the root of the other tree for another " just to see what happens "
deal... hi - hi

73 to all,

Andy - KU4XR