Hello Zazzle.
-With antennas, metal interferes with dipoles. Maybe it would be better to use one wire for positive and then connect your antenna ground to the metal like you said.
-High is good in general.
-Inverted v is like a dipole. A dipole close to the ground gives better close range coverage (research "NVIS") than a dipole high up which gives better long range.
-Nylon wire for the entire length would be better than what you have described.
-I think that if you are trying to listen for your beacon and you're in the city, if you could get about 50meters from a building, light pole, and electric wires, you would reduce a lot of interference and would have a good chance at hearing it.
On the air field, a dipole is the most efficient use of your power. And since it can't be mounted very high it will be giving good close range coverage (which is hundreds of miles in radius). If I were you, I would look at the wooden slat from different distances and positions and then paint it to blend in with its background. It could be as simple as leaving the bottom half brown but paint the top half a lighter brown or grey color. Or fade it into the lighter color so it would blend with the sky.
There's a beacon called the Inyo Whooper. I hear it and I'm a couple hundred miles from it. Its wires don't look very high So maybe yours would have the same characteristic.
http://www.auroralchorus.com/4096khz1.htm An important thing to think about with an antenna is its impedance. Its a complicated subject. For the PERFECT antenna: The dipole elements come together and that junction has an impedance measured in ohms. It needs to match the impedance of the feedline that goes to the transmitter. And then the impedance of the feedline needs to match the impedance of your transmitter. Baluns match elements to feedlines. And similarly, antenna tuners match feedline impedance to transmitter impedance.
-BUT your antenna is close to the ground and the impedance probably wont match your feedline or your transmitter. It would work but who knows how far. But with good propagation it could go thousands of miles, like the Inyo Whooper has.
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