Topband: Power Coupling on 160 meters

[K9AY]

> _I think the take off angle is everything..During one of the contests this
> season I was absoultly unable to work a couple of LOUD (30 over)Texas
> stations using
> a vertical.They are about a thousand miles away.After moving off of them I
> easily worked a
> far east coast and a mexican station both of which were near the noise
> level.The only thing
> I can attribute that to is the low take off angle of the vertical.
>
> Bud  W0HG  Colo

You might be right, Bud, but it's more likely that those Texans were listening
in another direction using Beverages or other directional RX antennas and did
not hear you calling.

I have rarely had trouble working close-in stations with a vertical -- even when
operating QRP. While a vertical might not be as strong as a horizontal
cloud-warmer, there is still plenty of signal strength at the other end of a
one-hop path (you're just 20 over instead of 30 over).

73, Gary
K9AY