I’ve heard of it being done, but I kinda secretly want to wire my radio and my antenna tuner to a softball backstop fence to see what kind of signal I can get out.
I have no idea if I can match the impedance of a backstop, or if I will be able to deal with the RF coming back down the feedline to my radio. I don’t even know if the fact that the backstop is anchored in the ground with concrete and touching the ground for its entire length will cause it to be its own ground plane. Does it act as a random wire antenna? Is it a longwire antenna? Is it good only for reception? What kind of harmful harmonics does it put out? How does the pair of 45º bends with the 90º straight legs affect the radiation pattern? What’s the optimum frequency band for it?
So what the hell…I gotta try it.
Hey, if someone can make long-distance contacts by wiring their radio, amplifier, and antenna tuner to a cast-iron skillet hanging from a swing set, I can make contacts with a backstop.
Stay tuned.