Currently being built/deployed on top of a ZL3 SOTA summit which will be getting activated next weekend!
Enjoy part 1 my friends! 
110% proper nonsense, I love it. I’m not sure what is better, building a big antenna or just looking at the scenery in the background. What an amazing countryside, even the antenna is no good, it’s worth it just for the view.
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You’ll be breaking through on my CD player Chris. (I still have one.)
Either that or my computer speakers, they have the most sensitive RF pickup of any device in my shack.
See you on 137 khz.
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I’ll look forward to part II to see how it works, Chris!.
Apart from the gully rather than a full blown deep valley, the idea is similar to what was put up at DL/EW-022 Herzogstand in the early days of radio for a radio telegraph station to send messages to the far east on VLF starting in the mid 1920s.
73 Ed DD5LP/VK2JI.
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Great idea Chris. Something a bit different for a field day.
I guess you will be using a 64:1 Endfed transformer for the wire? Maybe you can share something about the setup in part 2 or 3 ?
73 Joe
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Great Idea guys.
250m, I guess that is a genuine long wire.
In the 1960s I put up a full wave on 160 m hoping it would be great on 20 m. Not good on any band. Looking back, my end feed and matching was total rubbish. I do have an OCF 160 m half wave dipole I used for a 160 m SOTA day. It works but needs to be 40 m off the ground. Or strung across a gulch.
I like the peak to peak arrangement. Neat idea.
Hope to work you.
73
Ron
VK3AFW.
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Ham radio saying from the 1940’s:
When in doubt, use a long wire!
Also: Google images; Jim Creek Naval Radio Station.
Sure to blow your mind!
Best, Ken
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Unfortunately not worth replicating.
For 80m and shorter jagged radiation pattern.
For 2200, 630 and 160m no vertical component. Because on these bands, horizontal polarization is nearly worthless.
73 Chris
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T-Antenna: If you can afford the supports, a top-loaded vertical like that would be hard to beat!
Ken
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Hi all
A long time ago, 1982, I was in New Caledonia. Before operating my own call on hold, I was FK8KAA/P (later FK1SQ & FK0AQ).
I lived in the middle of the island near the town of Bourail and my first antenna was a long wire of more than 240m (long path to Europe).
I was lucky enough to be able to extend this length of wire. 
Every evening I was active on the 40m Net of Eric ZL2AAG (SK) and with the 100w of my FT707 I contacted all of Europe (06h UT) with unequivocal reports.
A real pleasure but I was not on any summit 
73 Éric
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To Quote Roly — “Nutter”
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Having the chopper turn up as you set up the 20 ft mast was a neat touch.
For low band work the Marconi would be the ideal. use the wire as the top hat for a vertical positioned in the gully.
Will be looking out for you next weekend.
73 Andrew vk1da/2uh
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And a big heap of low-loss feeder back to the operating position inside the AZ.
it’s for a field day contest, not sota.
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That’s right Andrew. For SOTA the antenna would need to be contained within the AZ
Its interesting to look at this on an Antenna Analysis program. If end fed it will exhibit useful gain (up to 10 dBd) in the direction away from the feed point at an angle of +/- 0 degrees on 28 MHz to about +/- 30 degrees on 3.6 MHz with the lobes either side of the wire axis. The front to back is about 3 dB. If you could have a team of Sherpas move the far end +/- 90 degrees it would be awesome.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
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I don’t see anything in the rules to that effect. 3.7.1 only says that the “Operating Position” (defined to be the position of the operator) must be within the AZ.
Martyn
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When are you planning on operating?
I’ll try and listen out for you.
That’s a good point - I’ve often wondered if the antenna can stretch beyond the AZ. I had one hut/park activation I threw the antenna wire over a tree branch that extended over a cliff face and ran an 80m EFHW vertical, top-fed. The result was about as poor as you’d expect - needed more tree-cliff separation, I suspect - but it did net me some 80m contacts where I’d never have got them any other way. Always wondered if I could repeat that for SOTA, or if the fact that the far end of the antenna was 40m below the summit would disqualify me.
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Gidday mate! Which part of the rules state that your antenna must be fully contained inside the AZ Ron?