We rent a small house on a 1/4-acre lot in North Hollywood, hardly a suitable place for a 100' long antenna- OR IS IT?

After hearing about the W5GI Mystery Antenna from KI6CR for years, then hearing all the operators at Field Day '25 go crazy over it, I decided to set one up. I've been very pleased with the antenna, and surprised at how well it does despite the compromise imposed on it running between our utility lines, asymmetrical pole elevation, and long run of cheap coax

Please enjoy my takeaways below as you marvel at this shoddy diagram I made with Apple's "Freeform" (hey, it's free):

My attempt at a top-down view diagram

Pros:

  • Minimal installation work and cost. Renter-friendly
  • Visual is easy to get YL* approval

* = female partner of a ham radio operator (Young Lady)

Cons / Learnings:

Problem: squirrels may enjoy chewing on your guy line rope, and you may walk outside one day to find your antenna nearly on the ground. Just a random example, of course 😉.

Solution: I switched out my chewed-through guy line rope for 1/16" coated steel rope from Amazon. I don't imagine the squirrels will be getting through that but we'll see.


Problem: trees grow, and you may find that:

  • foliage has come into contact with your antenna, resulting in RF coupling and changed antenna characteristics
  • a limb has fallen onto your antenna, possibly downing it

Solution: well, I suppose this is the true cost of a 'free' mast. All we can do is repair as needed, and prune dangerous-looking branches which should be done anyway, I suppose

The Process

  1. Some basic planning, a shakedown from ham friends, gathering materials, and ordering some nice DX Engineering ladder line. Very important to keep the two sides/poles obtuse rather than acute or it will act electrically shorter and undermine the antenna's design
  2. 20-25 throws of my arborist throwing bag high into the tree finally landed me where I wanted to be. I used that to pull through some guy line rope which then once over I put a D-ring on that would hold the highest part of my antenna up
  3. Procured a 4x4" post from our local indie hardware store and coated it with marine varnish. Luckily there was already a 4x4" post holder right where I wanted to plant this one!
  4. Pulleys all around: there's a pulley at each of the (3) attachment points. That makes it very easy to adjust, take down, etc. without a ladder or fuss
  5. I measured out and attached a long piece of guy line rope and built the antenna in place around chest height with the pulley lines all down
  6. String it up and see how it goes. Measure SWR, etc.
  7. Spray paint the coax portions of the antenna grey which may or may not have done anything to help camouflage it
  8. I installed a little plastic box where two pieces of coax met, so that I can sit in the patio with my beloved Elecraft KX2 and inject it when desired. (See below)


Results

I couldn't be happier with this compromise. I really didn't see it ending well but had to try, and I'm so glad I did!

The oddly-sloped inverted-V results in a nice radiation pattern that seems to work well both for DX and NVIS. Special thanks to the nice SoCal folks on 7.255 MHz for helping me test out the latter.