I live oceanfront on an island with the Gulf 300' to the West and South and
the bay 280' to the East and North. (I'm on the end of the island and it
runs NW-SE).
I have to tell you than verticals are not the only antennas enhanced by all
this salt water, my yagis perform better than I have ever experienced in a
non-saltwater QTH in my 54 years as a ham. I've always referred to this
ocean as nature's amplifier.
I even induced our club to run QRP one field day after demonstrating how
effective QRP could be with good antennas over salt water. We had a 80M full
wave loop and a 40M bobtail that started out on the dock and ran over the
bay inland to 50' push-ups. The 80M loop was laid on a diagonal, and the
40M vertical legs were folded out, but they worked like gangbusters with
only 5 watts. We had a Cushcraft A4S at 40' next to the dock and we could
actually have mini runs on the high bands.
OTOH, I've not found this to be true with fresh water QTH's.
YMMV,
Jon Hamlet, W4ZW
Casey Key Island, Florida
"A little piece of paradise in the Gulf of Mexico"
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