Years ago I purchased a 40-80-160m dipole antenna in hopes of getting a good signal out on the lower bands. Unfortunately the antenna ended up being too large for my yard and I didn't use it.  Fast forward to now and I've got plenty of room for antennas.  When I put up this antenna the trap for 160m on one leg broke off.  I had most of the antenna up in the air so I just didn't do anything with it.  Now that it's winter and 160m is supposed to be useful now I wanted to get on the air and make some contacts there.

As temperatures recently poked above freezing for the first time in some days I heated up the soldering iron, bundled up, and made my way out to the antenna to make the repair.  Luckily it was a simple fix and in less than an hour I was back inside with the antenna up in the trees like it's supposed to be.

I did some tests and I'm disappointed that there is only one real sweet spot on the antenna (around 1860kHz).  The little tuner in my radio doesn't handle the band very well but I guess this is better than not having anything at all.

I'm glad to be concentrating towards the bottom of the band and I'm hoping to find some CW down there.  I'd love to get a signal report if you do hear me on the band.