Dave
I did look briefly at this subject a few years ago....no measurements, just
some simplistic analysis along the lines of what W2PV did much earlier for HF.
This work was published in the 2004 Central States VHF Society Conference
Proceedings. I could send you an electronic copy of that article if you are
interested.
For sporadic E, assuming flat land, it appeared that the best compromise height
was about 50-60 feet. For tropo, on the other hand, the higher the better.
There's a strong argument for having antennas at different heights for
different purposes.
Urban development around the station, sloping ground, etc. will change things,
of course.
Meanwhile, I do most of my contesting as a rover, with a dipole at 12 feet,
which is definitely the wrong height !
73,
Steve VE3SMA
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