Outside my kitchen window I have a small discone antenna. It is a Diamond Super Discone Antenna Type D130J. The height of the top element incl. the loading coil is ca. 0.7 m. The receiving range is 25 to 1,300 MHz and transmit range, also according to the spec, is from 50 MHz and up. I have found that I also can use it for transmit/receive from 14 MHz and up. I have even worked QSO´s with low power on the the 40 m band.
When back home after one month in northern Sweden I noticed that part of a green plant on a nearby wall, ca. 1.5 m away, somehow had found its way to the antenna. It started to grow on one lower element and it is now above the top element.
I was curious about how the antenna would perform now, although bad summer conditions. My Elecraft KX3 with 10 W output autotuned to a low SWR on 14 MHz. Running CW CQ´s gained no answers, but CW Skimmer receiving stations received my signals. I was astonished that see on the Reverse Beacon Network that the skimmer station of VE2WU near Montreal could copy my CQ. It must have been GREEN POWER! :-)
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