"Denno" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi All. I will be getting my General Class license in the very near
future I hope. Of course, they got rid of CW after I finally had 5
WPM mastered. :-)

I live in New England and a friend of mine lives about 300 air miles
away. He has a 100 foot tower and it's amazing to see him work 20
meters. He also mentioned that he is finding 10 meters is opening more
and is having luck there also.

Unfortunately, all I have access to at this time is a 25 watt 10
meter rig. For my first HF antenna, I would like to be able to
communicate with my HAM friend as a priority, with any further
contacts a bonus. He recommended a full wavelength dipole set up as
an inverted V and experiment with wire angles. I know the inverted V
is much more omni directional than a flat dipole.

So the antennas I have considered which I hope have the proper take
off angles a
Inverted V
Moxon Beam
10 meter extended double Zepp (low radiation angle?)
10 meter vertical loop (experiment with loop angle and feedpoints)
Some type of sloper (dipole, end-fed, delta loop type?)

I'm hoping someone out there has had some luck with medium range
consistency (300 miles in my case) at 10 meters. I have a fairly
large yard but it is heavily wooded. The ground ranges from rich loom
to solid granite. A 44' EDZ is possible but definitely won't be easy,
although I will certainly make the effort. I also have a 10 meter
yagi sitting in pieces but if you think that may work, I will have to
suspend it from trees in a fixed direction.

Thanks!

Hi Denno

The greatest quality of HAM radio is your being able to experiment with
about anything that pleases you. It is so unlikely that you will ever be
satisfied with audio communication with your buddy 300 miles away on ten
meters, that you might consider using Skype for that ONE contact and set up
anything that seems interesting to you for ten meters. It wont take long
for you to know alot about what antenna is best for you.

Jerry